China's April oil throughput hits lowest since August 2022, inventories rise
- China's April oil throughput falls due to negative margins
- Independent refinery run cuts expected to deepen in May
- Crude, refined oil product inventories rise in April
China's April crude oil throughput fell to the lowest since August 2022, official data showed on Monday, as the Iran war curbed refinery runs in the world's second-largest oil consumer.
Refinery throughput fell 5.8% from a year earlier to 54.65 MM tonnes (t), or about 13.3 MMbpd, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.
Throughput in the first four months dropped 0.5% from a year earlier to 238.95 MMt, or 14.54 MMbpd, according to the data.
Chinese refiners' average crude processing utilization rate slipped to 63.59% in April, down 4.7% from a year earlier, and was down 5.13% from March, according to Chinese consultancy Oilchem.
The run cuts were due to negative oil-processing margins, and Chinese independent refineries are expected to deepen the cuts in May despite Beijing urging small refiners to maintain fuel production.
Chinese refiners suffered losses of 649 yuan for each ton of crude processed in April versus a profit of 269 yuan a year earlier, Chinese consultancy SCI said in a note.
Some of the smaller refiners had to shut their plants for maintenance in May.
Although refinery operating rates in China declined, refiners raised gasoline and diesel yields. Combined with demand destruction from higher oil prices, this pushed gasoline and diesel inventories higher, Oilchem said in the report.
"China barely drew on crude inventories in April, as fuel output only needed to meet domestic demand amid export restrictions from mid-March," said Emma Li, analyst at ship-tracking firm Vortexa.
China's April oil imports dropped 20% year-on-year to 38.47 MMt, or 9.36 MMbpd, hitting the lowest level in almost four years, a steeper decline than the drop in oil throughput.
China's onshore inventory level also increased by 17 MMbbl, according to Vortexa.
The data also showed April domestic crude production at 17.94 MMt, or 4.37 MMbpd, up 1.2% year-on-year.
China's oil production in the first four months was 72.74 MMt, or 4.43 MMbpd, down 0.5% compared with a year earlier.
Natural gas output rose 1.9% in April to 21.9 Bm3, and output in the first four months totaled 90 Bm3, up 2.7% year-on-year.
(ton = 7.3 barrels for crude oil conversion)
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