Chinese Refining Narrowly Dips from Record Levels in April

China’s total refinery throughput reached 61.1 million tonnes in April, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed, equivalent to 14.87 million bpd.

• April runs were slightly less than March’s record levels of 14.9mn bpd for a total of 63.9 million tonnes that month and compare to 12.6 million bpd in April last year.
• Some refineries were shutdown in April for planned maintenance which contributed to the slowdown in processed volumes though some refiners have increased run rates to compensate.
• Chinese fuel demand was served a boost at the end of the month for the May Day holiday, the first major holiday without restrictions in three years.
• NBS data also showed China's crude oil production in April period was 17.3 million tonnes, about 4.2 million bpd, versus 17 million tonnes in 2022.
• Natural gas production rose 7% to 18.9 billion cubic metres (bcm) from last year's 17.7 bcm.