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Chinese refineries processed 3.3% more crude oil in the first two months of 2023 compared with the previous year, data showed on Wednesday, spurred by fuel export policy and as independent refineries ramp up processing in response to improving margins.
The recovery in domestic demand for gasoline and jet fuel as more people traveled after Covid-19 controls were lifted also supported refinery production.
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Gross production in the January-February period reached 116.07 million tonnes, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed, equivalent to 14.36 million barrels per day (bpd).
This compares to 13.98 million bpd in the same period a year ago and 14.1 million bpd in December.
The agency combines data from January and February due to the Lunar New Year holiday, which this year fell at the end of January.
State-owned refineries have been encouraged to process more to earn profits on exports of refined products, following the government's release of a larger set of quotas that led to a 74% increase in exports of refined petroleum products in the January-February period.
Independent plants also increased processing rates by 4.4 percentage points compared to the previous year, to an average of 67.5% of their capacity in the same period, according to consultancy JLC.
Broad crude oil import quotas at the start of the year and expectations of recovery in downstream demand supported operating rates, JLC analysts said.
NBS data also showed that China's crude oil production in the January-February period grew by 1.8% year-on-year to 34.17 million tonnes (about 4.23 million bpd), while natural gas increased by 6.7% to 39.8 billion cubic meters.
Source: Notícias Agrícolas
