China June diesel exports rise on year ago

BEIJING: China's exports of diesel rose in June on a year ago as refiners turn to foreign markets to offload their excess product, while liquefied natural gas imports also rose, customs data showed on Sunday.

Diesel exports rose 19 percent in June to 1.31 million tonnes, figures from the General Administration of Customs showed. That is up from 1.23 million tonnes in May but less than the all-time high of 1.91 million tonnes hit in April.

Gasoline exports of 770,000 tonnes were down 30 percent from a record 1.1 million tonnes last June, but were up from 639,799 tonnes in May.

The data came after figures on Monday showed that oil refineries in one of the world's top crude importers ramped up throughput last month to the second highest on record, even as state oil majors prepared to take drastic steps to cut production during the peak summer season.

The high monthly shipments led to big increases in the first half and will reinforce concerns that China, one of the world's top energy markets, is contributing to a fuel overhang as refiners churn out more products like gasoline and diesel than the market can absorb.

For the first six months of 2017, China's diesel exports were up 21 percent to 7.97 million tonnes, Sunday's data showed.

China became a net exporter of fuel products in late 2016.

China's imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in June were up 38.6 percent at 3.04 million tonnes.