BEIJING: China's commercial crude oil inventories at the end of July rose 5.8 percent from the previous month as refineries cut crude throughput, the official Xinhua news agency said on Monday.
Over the same period, refined fuel stocks fell 1.7 percent from end-June, Xinhua reported in its oil and gas newsletter China OGP. Gasoline stocks dropped 1.15 percent and diesel stocks fell 1.05 percent from a month earlier, Xinhua said.
The fall in diesel stocks slowed from the previous few months as summer harvest came to an end and wide-spread rains hit consumption, it said.
Diesel is the primary motor fuel for the trucks, tractors and other farm equipment used in China's crop harvests, and the heavy rains reduced transportation and travelling. Kerosene stocks fell 6.83 percent from end-June as jet fuel consumption rose during the peak summer tourism season, Xinhua also said.
The OGP newsletter does not provide outright inventory volumes. 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's daily crude imports in July fell 1.1 percent from June to 5.6 million barrels per day (bpd).
Daily processing of crude in refineries in July fell 5 percent from June to 9.67 million bpd as some refineries went into maintenance.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.