China’s oil refinery throughput in April rose 18.9% from a year earlier, data showed on Tuesday, as refiners maintained high runs to meet recovering domestic fuel demand and stockpile inventories ahead of the summer travel season.

Total refinery throughput in the world’s second-largest oil consumer reached 61.1 million tonnes, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed, equivalent to 14.87 million barrels per day (bpd).

Refinery runs have remained high as domestic fuel demand continues to recover following the lifting of COVID restrictions late last year. The surge in year-on-year throughput also reflects a low base effect because of the impact of extensive lockdowns during the same period last year.

The May Day holiday, which ran from April 29 through May 3, also provided a significant boost to domestic demand for both gasoline and jet fuel, as domestic travel spiked with pent-up household demand.

Increased runs at other refineries made up for the shutdown of some plants for maintenance in April, said Xu Peng, a refined products analyst at China-based consultancy JLC ahead of the data.

State-owned PetroChina 0857.HK began a 55-day maintenance operation at its 100,000 bpd Changqing refinery on the April 1.

Sinopec’s 0386.HKZhenhai and Jinling refineries were also partially closed for maintenance through the month.
NBS data also showed China’s crude oil production in April period was 17.3 million tonnes, about 4.2 million bpd, versus 17 million tonnes in 2022.

Natural gas production rose 7% to 18.9 billion cubic metres (bcm) from last year’s 17.7 bcm.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Andrew Hayley; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Christian Schmollinger)