By Sam Li and Lewis Jackson
(Reuters) -China’s crude oil throughput in June rose 8.5% from a year earlier, official data showed on Tuesday, as state-owned refineries increased operations and saw a recovery in profit, according to consultancies.
The world’s second-largest oil consumer processed 62.24 million metric tons of crude in June, or about 15.15 million barrels per day (bpd), according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.
The daily processing rate rose 8.8% from May to the highest level since September 2023, according to Reuters calculations based on the data.
Refineries undergoing maintenance in June involved a total capacity of 107.7 million tons per year, down by 22.2 million tons from May, according to Chinese consultancy OilChem.
The utilisation rate at independent refineries fell by 2 percentage points from May to 67.9%, while state-owned refineries’ utilisation rose 5.3 points to 79.95% in June, data from consultancy Sublime China Information shows.
State-owned refiners posted a profit of 1,121 yuan ($156.40) per ton in June, up 83% from May and up 155% from a year earlier, as crude input costs dropped by 306 yuan per ton while product prices rose, according to OilChem.
Meanwhile, Shandong-based independent refiners earned an average profit of 355 yuan per ton from processing imported crude in June, down 6.2% month-on-month, as rising feedstock costs outpaced gains in product prices.
JLC, another Chinese consultancy, projected that the average operating rate of state-owned refineries will reach around 83.5% in the third quarter, up 5.13 percentage points from the previous quarter and slightly higher than a year earlier.
NBS data also showed that China’s domestic crude oil production in June rose 1.4% from a year earlier to 18.2 million tons, or 4.43 million bpd.
Crude output for the first half of the year rose 1.3% to 108.48 million tons, or 4.38 million bpd.
Natural gas production increased 4.6% year on year to 21.2 billion cubic metres in June, with output in the first six months rising 5.8%, the data showed. (Metric ton = 7.3 barrels for crude oil conversion)
($1 = 7.17 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Sam Li; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Sonali Paul)
