Record China Refinery Runs September

China refinery throughput hit another record in September at 63.62 million metric tons last month or 15.48mn bpd, up from the prior record in August of 15.23mn bpd according to National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data.

• Runs were particularly strong at China’s state-owned refiners.
• They strengthened because of new export quota releases early September, strong export margins – especially for diesel as well as solid domestic demand with firm travel figures during China’s Golden Week.
• The Golden Week holiday, at the end of September, saw domestic travel at 26 million trips within mainland China, up 71.3% from a year ago and 4.1% higher than in 2019, according to data released by the Xinhua state media outlet.
• International travel for the holiday rebounded to 85% of 2019 levels.
• The figures also showed that domestic crude oil production in September was 16.87 million metric tons, or 4.1 million bpd - up 0.3% from 16.8 million tons in 2022.
• Natural gas production was up 9.3% from a year earlier to 17.9 billion bcm, from 16.4 bcm last year.