Chinese Refinery Throughput Nudges Higher in May

Chinese refinery throughput was 53.92 million tonnes in May, or about 12.7 million barrels per day (bpd), according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) out today. China’s refinery throughput in May fell 10.9% from the same month a year earlier.

• Throughput in May nudged higher from 12.61 million bpd in April, which was the lowest in two years, but was a steep 1.55 million bpd below the level of a year earlier.
• Processing volumes for the January-May period were down 5.3% on the year at 277.16 million tonnes, or 13.4 million bpd.
• The NBS data also showed 3.6% increase in crude oil production to 17.57 million tonnes last month, or 4.14 million bpd. Production in the first five months rose 4.1% compared with a year earlier to 85.69 million tonnes.
• Natural gas production grew 4.9% in April to 17.7 billion cubic meters and output year-to-date rose 5.8% versus the same period of 2021.