China Boosts Crude Inventories Despite Record Refinery Processing

China's refinery throughput hit a record-high in March, but despite this record the world's largest oil importer still boosted inventories according to Reuters calculations.

• China's refinery throughput hit 63.9 million tonnes in March, equivalent to about 15.11mbpc, up from 14.36mbpd in the first two months of the year.
• Despite that, the amount of crude available to refiners from imports and domestic output also rose in March, reaching 16.67mbpd, according to calculations based on official data.
• China doesn't disclose the volumes of crude flowing into or out of strategic and commercial stockpiles, but an estimate can be made by deducting the amount of crude processed from the total of crude available from imports and domestic output.
• Reuters calculations estimate 1.56mbpd of oil that likely flowed into either commercial or strategic inventories. This was an increase in the amount available for stockpiles from the first two months of the year, when the surplus was 270kpd.
• In the first quarter, China added about 770kbpd to inventories, up from the 740kbpd average for 2022.