Chinese refinery throughput surged to record levels in March as refiners stepped up runs to capture strong export demand and build up inventories ahead of planned maintenance.

Crude throughput was up 8.8% last month compared with a year earlier, data showed on Tuesday.

Total refinery throughput reached 63.9 million tonnes, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed, equivalent to 14.9 million barrels per day (bpd).

That compared with 13.8 million bpd in March 2022 and 14.36 million bpd for the January-February period this year.

Total first-quarter throughput was 179.3 million tonnes, up from 171.4 million tonnes in the same period last year.
Recovering export demand for gasoline and aviation fuel as more people travelled following the scrapping of COVID-19 controls has supported higher refinery runs.

China’s refined fuels exports in March surged by 35.1% on last year, customs data showed last week.

Gasoline margins in Asian trade rose to two-month highs in late March, supported by tighter supplies from Indian refiners.

Cheaper crude imports from Russia, which sells oil to China at steep discounts due to a scarcity of other willing buyers, also enhanced refining margins and encouraged greater production.

Major private refiners, such as Zhejiang Petrochemical (ZPC) and Hengli Petrochemical 600346.SS have reportedly been operating at or above their official capacity as they look to profit from these strong margins.

NBS data also showed China’s crude oil production in the March period was up on the year to 18.2 million tonnes (about 4.28 million bpd) versus 17.71 million tonnes in 2022.

Natural gas production grew 4.0% to 20.5 billion cubic metres (bcm) from last year’s 19.7 bcm.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Andrew Hayley; Editing by Christopher Cushing)