BEIJING: China's implied oil demand in February rebounded to a record high rate last seen in December after a dip in January, official data showed on Saturday, as refineries continued with fairly hefty runs while net imports of oil products surged from a month earlier.
Implied demand, the combination of crude oil throughput and net fuel imports, rose about 2 percent from a year earlier to 9.71 million barrels per day (bpd) last month, the same as in December, according to Reuters calculations based on preliminary government data.
The calculation does not include changes in inventories, figures which China rarely publishes.
The second largest oil importer's overseas purchases jumped 18.5 percent from a year earlier to a record high rate of about 5.95 million bpd in February, government data showed.
It must have added more crude to either commercial or strategic oil reserves last month, as crude supplies -- net crude imports plus domestic crude output -- outstripped refinery throughput by some 670,000 bpd, the highest level in more than a year, according to Reuters calculations.
"In view of potential supply disruptions surrounding the Iran nuclear issue, oil firms may have raised imports beyond the requirement by refineries to bolster the stocks and provide a cushion for future uncertainty," said a Beijing-based oil analyst.
Chinese refineries processed about 9.28 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil in February, only a notch below January's all-time high and up 3.9 percent on the same month a year ago.
The country's imports of oil products rose 32.9 percent to 3.92 million tonnes last month while exports of oil products rose 15.1 percent to 2.14 million tonnes, resulting in net imports of 1.78 million tonnes, a level higher than in January and roughly the same as in December.
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