China January-February crude oil throughput up 1.9% year-on-year

BEIJING: China’s crude oil throughput in January and February rose 1.9% compared to the same period last year, official data showed on Monday, supported by higher refinery operating rates.

Total refinery throughput in the world’s second-largest oil consumer was 122.63 million metric tons, or about 15.17 million barrels per day, showed data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China.

China combines data for January and February into one release to smooth out the impact of the Lunar New Year holidays, which fall in either of these months each year.

Refineries’ capacity utilisation rate was 71.3% in January and 73.2% in February, both higher than in the year-earlier period, according to consultancy Oilchem.

In February, gasoline consumption rose as long-distance travel during the Spring Festival increased, while output remained at a medium-to-high level and inventories along the mid- and downstream supply chain declined, according to Oilchem.

Diesel production in February, however, saw only limited cuts, while consumption fell to the lowest level of the year as industrial activity and logistics slowed, leading to a sharp rise in domestic inventories, Oilchem added. Fuel oil production saw a year-on-year increase of 4% in the January to February period, according to Oilchem.

The statistics bureau data also showed that January-February domestic crude oil production rose 1.9% year on year to 35.73 million tons, or 4.42 million bpd. Natural gas output was up 2.9% in January-February over the same year-earlier level to 44.6 billion cubic metres.