China's oil throughput in May falls to a nearly four-year low

China's crude oil throughput fell 9.1% in May compared to a year ago, according to official data released on Tuesday. The country's refineries were forced to cut back on production due high crude prices and the U.S./Israeli war against Iran.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics revealed that the world's second largest oil consumer processed 53.72 millions metric tons or 12.65million barrels per day,?reaching the lowest level since august 2022.

The first five months of the year saw a total output of 292.8 million tons. This is a 2.2% decrease from a previous year.

According to Oilchem, an independent Chinese consultancy, Chinese state-owned refiners reduced oil throughput by a staggering 61.06% in May. This is a decrease of 2.37 percentage points since April, and a drop of 6.49 percentage points when compared with a year ago.

China's crude oil imports in May also fell to the lowest level for eight years. The country will likely tap into its record crude oil inventories to further reduce imports while maintaining production curbs to minimize refinery losses due to weak fuel demand.

According to official data, China's domestic crude oil production in?May rose 0.5% compared to a year earlier to?18.57 metric tons or 4.37 millions bpd.

Oil production in the first five months of this year was 91.31 metric tons. This is up 1.1% compared to a year ago.

Natural gas production dropped 2.2% in May from the previous year to 21.7 billion cubic meters (bcm), but output for the entire year was 111.7 bcm.

(source: Reuters)