China Daily Oil and Gas Summary: Oil Produce Exports Falling

MNI (London) - Chinese oil product exports from state-owned refiners are set to fall 13.7% from last month to 3.48m tons in February according to OilChem sources.

• The drop in exports is mainly due to an increase in domestic fuel demand amid increased travel during the Lunar New Year holidays. Gasoline exports are expected to drop 38% m/m to 640k tons.
• CDU utilisation rates are projected to stay flat in the week to Feb. 1, according to OilChem. Independent refineries in Shandong are expected to fall as the smaller teapots cut run rates as Chinese New Year holiday approaches.
• NATGAS - Construction of Russia's planned new Power of Siberia-2 gas pipeline to China could be delayed according to Mongolian Prime Minister L. Oyun-Erdene via FT. The new 50bcm per year pipeline from northern Russia to China via Mongolia was expected to start construction this year.
• EXCLUSIVE: The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) will likely cut rates for policy tools such as its medium-term lending facilities and 7-day repo by around mid-year, but weak credit demand will divert liquidity released by easing moves – such as last week's reserve requirement ratio cut – to unproductive financial arbitrage, policy advisors and economists told MNI.
• YUAN: The currency strengthened to 7.1797 against the dollar from 7.1808 on Friday.
• FROM THE PRESS: China signed a mutual visa exemption agreement with Thailand, causing a seven-fold increase in Thailand-related searches on C-trip the following day, according to Yicai.