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China Jan-Feb crude imports rise on strong vacation travel need

China's imports of crude oil rose 5.1% in the first two months of 2024 from a year previously, information revealed on Thursday, as refiners ramped up purchases to meet fuel sales during the Lunar New Year holiday.

Imports during January and February totaled up to 88.31 million metric lots, or about 10.74 million barrels daily ( bpd), according to the General Administration of Customs.

That compared to 10.4 million bpd in the corresponding duration in 2015.

China launches combined import data for January and February to smooth out the effect of the week-long Lunar New Year vacation that generally falls at the start of the year.

Need for fuel and aviation fuel spiked in late January through much of February as tens of millions of people took a trip at home and abroad for the vacation break.

China is anticipated to release more need momentum in the later months of the year, with stronger diesel demand to materialise out of winter and more powerful gasoline and jet fuel demand in the holidays and summer season travel season, stated Lin Ye, a. Beijing-based expert at consultancy Rystad Energy.

To meet higher fuel need, state-run refiners kept. steady or a little higher operations during these 2 months. versus December, industry sources stated.

Independent refiners, however, cut throughput, particularly in. February, amidst thinning margins.

Chinese commodities consultancy JLC approximated independent. plants in the refining hub of Shandong province ran crude units. at approximately 58.27% of capacity in February, down 4.91. portion points from January and down 9.6 percentage points. from a year earlier.

In its annual market outlook instruction last week, state. energy group CNPC forecast China's petroleum imports this year. to remain largely flat, up only 0.1% to about 11.3 million bpd.

That might recommend China's only greenfield refinery under. construction, the 400,000-bpd Yulong Petrochemical complex,. could enter production just towards late 2024, as earlier. predicted.

Customizeds information also revealed exports of refined oil items,. which included diesel, fuel, air travel fuel and marine fuel,. were down 30.6% from a year previously, at 8.82 million heaps.

Chinese refineries require to export their products more. cautiously with the quota allocated, which means export margins. matter more, stated Rystad's Ye.

We expect gasoline and diesel exports to have actually increased. from February and are likely to additional broaden in March.

Gas imports for January-February, including piped. gas and liquefied gas (LNG), leapt 23.6% from a year. earlier to 22.10 million heaps, the data showed.

That was the greatest year to date total on record, . records showed.

LSEG tanker tracking evaluation revealed about 13.7 million. tons of LNG was delivered to Chinese ports throughout the first two. months of 2024, up from the figure of 11.12 million lots a year. previously.

Lower area LNG rates << LNG-AS > might have spurred Chinese. firms to bring more deliveries under long-term contracts to the. domestic market and also step up some sporadic spot purchasing,. traders stated.

(source: Reuters)