China’s Jan-Feb Crude Runs Rose 3.3% YoY To 14.36mbpd

Chinese refineries processed 3.3% more crude oil in the first two months of 2023 compared with a year earlier, supported by fuel export policy and improving margins for independent refiners, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.

• Crude throughput in the Jan-Feb period reached 14.36mbpd, compared with 13.98mbpd a year earlier and 14.1mnbpd in December.
• Recovering domestic demand for gasoline and aviation fuel as more people traveled following the scrapping of COVID-19 controls also supported refinery production.
• State-run refiners were encouraged to process more partly to capture profits in exporting refined products, following the government's release of a larger set of quotas that has led to a 74% surge in refined oil product exports in the Jan-Feb period.
• Independent plants also raised processing rates by 4.4 percentage points over a year earlier to an average of 67.5% of their capacity during the same period, according to the consultancy JLC.
• Ample crude oil import quotas at the beginning of the year and expectations of recovering downstream demand supported the operational rates, JLC analysts said.
• NBS data also showed China's crude oil production in the Jan-Feb period grew 1.8% on the year to about 4.23mbpd, while that of natural gas rose 6.7% at 39.8bcm.