BEIJING: China's commercial crude oil inventories at the end of May rose 4 percent from a month earlier as crude imports remained high, the official Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday.
But refined fuel stocks fell 5.48 percent from end-April, Xinhua reported in its oil and gas newsletter China OGP. Of the total, diesel stocks slumped 11.4 percent, gasoline stocks rose 0.93 percent and kerosene stocks increased 0.16 percent, it said.
The fall in diesel stocks came as industrial activity accelerated and the summer harvest started in May.
Factory output rose 8.8 percent in May from a year earlier, in line with market expectations and quickening slightly from April's 8.7 percent pace, official data has shown.
The OGP newsletter does not provide outright inventory volumes, and the government rarely discloses levels of either commercial or strategic oil stocks, making it difficult to gauge real demand in the world's second-largest oil consumer.
China imported 6.14 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil in May, up 8.9 percent from a year earlier, although it was down 9.4 percent from a record high of 6.78 million bpd in April. China's refinery crude throughput in May rose 3.5 percent from a year earlier to 9.5 million bpd, official data has shown.
But daily crude runs were down from 9.63 million bpd in April, as refineries scaled back output amid peak maintenance period.
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