China's state-owned refiners are raising planned crude runs in April to average 82% capacity, up from 81% in March, Platts monthly survey showed Tuesday.
The 23 refineries surveyed plan to process a combined 17.495 million mt (4.275 million b/d) of crude oil in April. Last month, 24 refineries were surveyed.
The April survey covered Sinopec's 12 refineries, PetroChina's 10 refineries and China National Offshore Oil Corp.'s Huizhou refinery, which have a combined capacity of 259.2 million mt/year.
The survey does not include two new refineries which had started trial runs in January. One is PetroChina's 10 million mt/year Pengzhou refinery in southwest Sichuan province, which is still undergoing test runs, according to a refinery source.
State-owned trading house Sinochem's 12 million mt/year Quanzhou refinery in southeast China's Fujian province has started commercial operations since mid-April, but the current crude throughput rate is not known.
Average runs at Sinopec's surveyed refineries increased slightly to 87% capacity in April from 83% last month, but run rates at PetroChina's refineries fell to 72% in April from 78% in March.
Three of Sinopec's refineries -- Zhenhai, Guangzhou and Hainan -- have raised their crude throughput in April, boosting the overall average run rate for Sinopec's surveyed refineries.
The most significant rise came from the 23 million mt/year Zhenhai refinery in eastern Zhejiang province, which raised crude runs by 10 percentage points, following the restart of the 1.8 million mt/year No. 2 fluid catalytic cracker in early April.
A refinery source pointed out that the high retail prices of gasoline and gasoil have been encouraging refineries to process more crude to some extent.
"The international crude prices are relatively high, which in turn propped up oil product prices. We enjoy a gross profit of around $5-10/barrel for processing crude in Q1. This is very profitable and definitely would have encouraged refineries to process more," the source with Sinopec's 23.5 million mt/year Maoming refinery in southern Guangdong province said.
The lower average run rate for PetroChina's surveyed refineries was mainly driven by the planned shutdown of its largest refinery at Dalian, as well as high oil product stocks.
The 20.5 million mt/year Dalian facility in northeastern Liaoning province entered a full turnaround on April 10 that will last for over a month. The shutdown brought the average run rate at the refinery for the month to 27% of its nameplate capacity, down from 78% in March.
"Inventories of oil products have been high and we're required by the parent company to keep run rates low," said a source with the 5.5 million mt/year PetroChina Daqing Refining and Petrochemical refinery in northeastern Heilongjiang province.
AVERAGE RUNS RISE 4 PERCENTAGE POINTS FROM APR 2013
The average run rates at state-owned refineries in April showed a rise of four percentage points from 78% capacity in April 2013, thanks to fewer refinery maintenance this month.
PetroChina's runs were up by nine percentage points from 63% in April 2013.
Its major 10.5 million mt/year Lanzhou refinery in northwest Gansu province and the 10 million mt/year Guangxi refinery in southern Guangxi were shut for maintenance in April 2013, accounting for the substantially lower rate last year.
The average run rate at Sinopec's surveyed refineries in April showed a rise of three percentage points from 84% capacity a year ago. Crude throughput at China's top refineries in April:
PETROCHINA
Plant Throughput CDU capacity Run rate Dalian 109,950 411,685 27% Fushun 175,920 220,904 80% Daqing Refining 114,837 110,452 104% Daqing 131,940 200,822 66% Jinzhou 127,053 150,616 84% Jinxi 107,507 140,575 76% Dalian WEPEC 175,920 200,822 88% Lanzhou 210,127 210,863 100% Guangxi 182,028 200,822 91% Harbin 67,192 100,411 67%
SINOPEC Plant Throughput CDU capacity Run rate Yanshan 219,900 281,151 78% Tianjin 208,905 311,274 67% Cangzhou 58,640 70,288 83% Qilu 195,467 230,945 85% Jinan 105,063 140,575 75% Qingdao Refining 222,343 200,822 111% Gaoqiao 215,013 226,929 95% Zhenhai 447,130 461,890 97% Wuhan 158,817 170,699 93% Guangzhou 256,550 265,085 97% Maoming 361,613 471,932 77% Hainan 178,363 184,756 97%
CNOOC Plant Throughput CDU capacity Run rate Huizhou 244,333 240,986 101% Average run rates at China's top refiners:
Apr 2014 Apr 2013 Mar 2014 Jan-Apr 2014 Jan-Apr 2013 PetroChina 72% 63% 78% 72% 76% Sinopec 87% 84% 83% 84% 82% CNOOC 101% 101% 101% 100% 101% Total average 82% 78% 81% 82% 81%
Unit: in b/d
