China Fuel Exports Fall in September

Chinese exports of gasoline and diesel fell last month according to customs data with supplies prioritized to meet robust domestic demand.

• Gasoline exports in September fell 21% from an eight-month high to 1.09m tons but with year to date exports up 19.9% year on year to 9.86m tons.
• Deisel exports fell 6.4% from a five-month high to 1.18m tons with year to date exports up 117.7% year on year to 10.84m tons.
• China’s apparent oil demand rose 16.7% from a year ago to a record 15.24mbpd in September with Jan-Sep demand up +12.99% y/y to 14.54mbpd according to Bloomberg.
• Refiners could be slowing exports to conserve their quotas according to Li Chunyan, at OilChem.
• A fourth batch of oil product export quotas is not looking likely with a focus back on limiting carbon emissions after the boost to support economic growth. Exports quotas are around 40m tons so far this year, compared with 37.3m tons in 2022.