November 15, 2024 [Reuters]- China’s refinery throughput in October fell 4.6% from last year, down from year earlier for a seventh month, as plant closures offset the ramp up of a newly started complex and demand from holiday travel, official data showed on Friday.

Refiners processed 59.54 million metric tons of crude oil last month, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed, equivalent to 14.02 million barrels per day (bpd).

The October figure was down from September’s 14.3 million bpd and 15.05 million bpd in October 2023.

Additionally, Reuters calculations based on last year’s NBS figure of 63.93 million tons showed October output contracted 6.9%, which suggests the data agency has revised down the year-ago figures.

Throughput slid even as Yulong Petrochemical, China’s newest refiner that started up one of its two 200,000-bpd crude processors in late September, has raised the unit’s operations to about 90% of capacity.

And it slumped even as analysts reported last month’s consumption of aviation fuel and gasoline rose as more people travelled for the National Day golden week holiday.

Some of the throughput decline appeared to occur at smaller independent plants known as teapots. Data from consultancy Sublime China Information showed these plants, mostly located in the refining hub of Shandong province, were operating at 58.7% of their capacity by late October, sharply below the 77% rate a year earlier.

Five Chinese refineries were fully closed or under maintenance, Sublime said. These include Sinochem’s plants at Zhenghe, Huaxing and Changyi that were declared bankrupt in September, a Sublime analyst said.

PetroChina’s shutdown of a 90,000-bpd crude unit at its plant in northeastern Dalian, part of a massive relocation project, also contributed to the lower throughput.

For the first 10 months of the year, the NBS data showed throughput was 590.59 million tons, or 14.14 million bpd, down 2% year-on-year, the fifth decline for year-to-date volumes.

Similarly, Reuters’ calculations using last year’s reported data of 590.59 million metric tons showed a larger decline of 4.55% for the 10-month period.

Domestic crude oil production last month gained 2.5% on the year to 17.17 million tons, or 4.04 million bpd, the NBS data showed.

Year-to-date output rose 2% from a year earlier to 177.64 million tons, or 4.25 million bpd.

Natural gas production expanded 8.4% in October from a year ago to 20.8 billion cubic meters (bcm), and year-to-date output rose 6.7% to 203.9 bcm, the data showed.

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