China dipped into its massive crude oil stockpile in August for the third month in the past four as increased refinery processing exceeded a modest increase in oil imports…
China dipped into its massive crude oil stockpile in August for the third month in the past four as increased refinery processing exceeded a modest increase in oil imports.
Refineries processed about 640,000 barrels per day (bpd) more than what was available to them from imports and domestic oil production, according to calculations based on official data.
China, the world's biggest crude importer, slashed its purchases to the lowest in a decade in the wake of the higher oil prices caused by the disruption to supplies from the Middle East after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on February 28.
It also trimmed refinery run rates to levels sufficient to meet domestic demand, but not high enough to support exports of refined fuels, which also dropped sharply in the months following the outbreak of the Iran conflict.
China does not disclose the volumes of crude flowing into or out of its strategic and commercial stockpiles, but an estimate can be made by deducting the amount of oil processed from the total crude available from imports and domestic output.
On this basis, imports of 8.93 million bpd in August and domestic production of 4.34 million bpd meant refiners had a total of
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