China Top Refineries Cut April Crude Runs to 35-month Low

Chinese oil firms will trim crude oil throughput at major refineries to a 35-month low in April after a large cut in March, a Reuters poll showed, as maintenance remains heavy amid ongoing refining losses despite a fuel price hike last month.

The development could herald slowing fuel demand in the world's second-largest oil consuming market in the short term if it turned out to be consistent with changes in nation-wide crude throughput and if China's fuel stocks continued bulging.

The 12 plants, which make up nearly a third of China's capacity and are located mostly in coastal areas, plan to process 2.62 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil in April, the poll showed.

The daily rate in April, which accounts for about 80 percent of their refining capacity, will be the lowest since June 2009, when oil demand was hit by a global economic downturn.

The refineries processed around 2.68 million bpd of crude last month, slightly higher than an initial plan of 2.64 million bpd, which would have been the lowest in 31 months.

Production at top refiner China Petroleum and Chemical Corp's (Sinopec Corp) Zhenhai refinery will remain subdued in April as the largest Sinopec plant will overhaul a 200,000-bpd crude oil unit after repairing a 160,000-bpd unit.

Dalian refinery, PetroChina's largest, will cut crude throughput by more than a fifth from March as the turnaround will fall mostly in April.

PetroChina, the second largest refiner in China, has also shut an 80,000-bpd crude unit in its Jinzhou refinery from last Friday, slashing the plant's April crude runs by about 20 percent.

Crude processing in West Pacific Petrochemical Corp (WEPEC), a joint venture between PetroChina, Sinochem Corp and France's Total SA, also moderated, due to maintenance of a 2.5 million tpy fluid catalytic cracker and a 2 million tpy atmospheric residue desulphurising unit starting from March 27.

Several refinery officials said their plants were still operating at losses, even though China raised gasoline and diesel prices by 6-7 percent on March 20 to record high levels.