China's oil throughput in July surges by 8.9% on an annual basis

China's crude throughput in July increased 8.9% compared to a year ago, according to official data released on Friday. State-owned refineries also maintained high operational rates.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the world's second largest oil consumer processed approximately 14.85 million barrels of crude per day in July.

Calculations based on data show that the daily processing rate is down by 1.95% compared to June, when China’s oil throughput was at its highest since September 2023.

According to Chinese consultancy OilChem, refineries that were undergoing maintenance had a capacity of 79.7 million tonnes per annum, down 28.7 millions tons from June.

According to Oilchem, the refinery utilization rate increased to 71.84%, an increase of 1.02 percentages points over June and 3.56 points over a year ago.

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

State-owned refineries reported a refining profit of 872 yuan per ton in July. This was down 22.21 percent month-on-month due to rising costs and declining product prices.

Oilchem reports that Shandong independent refiners made an average profit per ton of 325 yuan (US$45.3) from the processing of imported crude. This is down 8.39% on a month-to-month basis as crude prices fell more than total revenue.

NBS data showed that China’s crude oil production rose by 1.2% in July compared to a year ago, reaching 18.12 million tonnes or 4,27 million bpd.

The crude output in the first seven-month period increased by 1.3%, to 126.6 millions tons or 4,36 million bpd.

The data shows that the production of natural gas increased by 7.4% on an annual basis to 21.6 billion cu m in July. From January to July, it rose by 6%.

(source: Reuters)