China Daily Oil Summary: May’s Product Exports to Rise by 6.5%

Chinese refiners are planning to increase oil product exports to 3.53m tons in May, according to OilChem. Planned export volumes are expected to increase 6.5% from April and +26% year on year.

• China will be the main beneficiary of a recent push in US sanctions against both Iran and Venezuela, which should support deeper oil discounts according to Kpler.
• An influx in heavy and medium sour crude grades into China are expected to exert downward pressure on differentials for these grades.
• Rongsheng Petrochemical shut a CDU at Zhejiang Petroleum & Chemical at start of this month for planned work according to Bloomberg sources. The work is set to last for 40 days, while the other 3 CDU’s at the facility are running at full capacity.
• EXCLUSIVE: Beijing will use Hainan as a test bed for economic reform, such as capital account liberalisation, which will help the province reach its 8% GDP growth target this year, before evaluating whether the policies should be rolled out nationwide, a Hainan official told MNI.
• EXCLUSIVE: China’s interbank market liquidity reached a 22-month-high in April, leading the PBOC to net-drain for the second consecutive month, the latest MNI Liquidity Conditions Index showed.
• FROM THE PRESS: Policymakers should not relax after the economy's "good start" in Q1, and instead provide further macro support to strengthen the recovery, according to Guan Tao, former official at the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.