Chinese Oil Majors Consume More Crude In August

PetroChina and Sinopec’s daily crude consumption grew further in August 2019, because of more unit restarts, JLC data shows. 

This increase comes after a modest 1.25% month-on-month increase in July from the two majors.

The two companies’ crude throughput totaled 34.14 million mt in August, with the daily crude consumption rallying by 2.03% month on month to about 1.10 million mt.

PetroChina processed 13.64 million mt of crude in the month, with the daily crude throughput at 440,000 mt, a drop of 0.87% month on month, the data indicates. The decline was largely due to Dushanzi Petrochemical, starting a turnaround at its 320,000 bbl/day refinery on July 20 and, the company is not expected to restart the refinery until September 18.

In contrast, Sinopec’s crude consumption rebounded because as the oil major concluded maintenance in some of its facilities. The company processed 20.50 million mt of crude in August, with the daily crude throughput at about 661,000 mt, a boost of 4.06% month on month, the data shows.

Qingdao Refining and Chemical brought its 240,000 bbl/day refinery back online on August 8, after over two months of maintenance. Jingmen Petrochemical restarted a 32,000 bbl/day crude distillation unit on July 27.

Zhanjiang Dongxing Refinery in Guangdong, with a topping capacity of 100,000 bbl/day, was still undergoing a turnaround that was scheduled to last from August 2 to early September.

PetroChina and Sinopec’s daily crude throughput is expected to extend gains in September, because of less refinery maintenance and growing product demand.

By JLC International

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