China's August oil refining rises for second straight month
China processed 59.07 million metric tons of crude in August, up 11.2% from July but down 6.9% year on year, as implied stockpiles fell.
China's crude oil throughput increased month on month for a second consecutive month in August, even as it stayed well below year-earlier levels, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Tuesday.
The world's largest oil buyer processed 59.07 million metric tons of crude last month, equivalent to 13.91 million barrels per day. That marked an 11.2% gain over July.
On a year-on-year basis, however, August throughput was 6.9% lower. For the first eight months of the year, refineries processed 456.12 million metric tons, or about 13.7 million bpd, a decline of 6.6% from the same period a year earlier.
Domestic crude production edged up 0.8% year on year in August to 18.43 million metric tons, or 4.34 million bpd. Output for the January-August period reached 146.39 million metric tons, up 0.9% from a year earlier.
Beijing does not disclose the size of its crude reserves. Calculations that add official imports to domestic output and subtract refinery throughput point to a stock drawdown of 639,000 bpd in August — the second-largest decline since the Iran war began, following a draw of 936,000 bpd in June.
Natural gas output also rose, climbing 0.8% year on year in August to 21.4 billion cubic meters. Year-to-date production stood at 175.7 bcm, up 1.1% from a year earlier.