China's crude oil output in August is up 7.6% on a year-on-year basis

China's crude throughput in August increased 7.6% compared to a year ago, official data revealed on Monday. State-owned refineries also maintained high operating rates.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the world's second largest oil consumer processed approximately 14.94 million barrels of crude per day in August.

The daily processing rate was the second highest over a period of 17 months, but it was 1.3% below the highest level in June 2025.

From January to August, crude oil production was 488.07 metric tons or 14.7 millions bpd. This is a 3.2% increase compared to last year's same period.

According to Oilchem, the refinery utilization rate increased to 72.11 percent in July. This is up 0.27 points from June, and 2.56 points compared to a year ago.

The consultancy did note that profits at both state-owned and independent refineries had declined compared to July.

According to Oilchem, the average profit for state-owned refineries was 848 Yuan ($119.06), down 2.8% from last month. Shandong independent refiners made an average of 283 Yuan ($39.73), down 12.9%, per ton when processing imported crude.

NBS data showed that China’s crude oil production rose by 2.4% in August compared to a year ago, reaching 18.26 million tonnes or 4.3 millions bpd.

The crude output in the first eight-month period rose by 1.4%, to 144.86 millions tons or 4.35million bpd.

The data revealed that the production of natural gas increased by 5.9% on an annual basis to 21.2 billion cubic meters in August. From January to August, it rose 6.1% to 173.7 million cubic meters.

(source: Reuters)