China Nov crude throughput hits daily record as private refiner starts new unit (updated)

AK Holdings

15/12/2020 02:38

(Adds details on new unit, maintenance outages)
    BEIJING, Dec 15 (Reuters) - China's crude oil throughput in
November rose 3.2% on year，setting a record high on a daily
basis, as a huge private refiner started trials of a new
refining unit while state-owned refineries raised processing
rates to meet annual targets.
    The country processed 58.35 million tonnes of crude oil last
month, equivalent to 14.2 million barrels per day (bpd),
according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)
on Tuesday.
    That exceeded the October record of 14.09 million bpd.
    January-November throughput was 614.41 million tonnes, or
13.39 million bpd, up 3.1% from the same period in 2019.
    Zhejiang Petrochemical Corp in early November started a
200,000 bpd crude unit, in addition to its existing 400,000 bpd
refining capacity in eastern China.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nB9N2HD00W
    Stated-backed oil refineries also stepped up operation rates
to meet solid demand for diesel and low-sulphur marine fuel.
    According to data compiled by S&P Platts, average crude
throughput rate at Chinese state-controlled firms rose by 1
percentage point from October to 79.8% in November. 
    Meanwhile, PetroChina Co's  601857.SS  Yunnan refinery shut
a 260,000 bpd crude processing facility on Dec. 5 for a 50-day
overhaul. Sinopec's Qingdao and Qilu facilities are scheduled to
resume operations later this month after maintenance.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2ID0SI 

 (Reporting by Muyu Xu and Shivani Singh; Editing by Shri
Navaratnam and Kenneth Maxwell)
 ((muyu.xu@thomsonreuters.com; +86 10 56692117;))