China’s refineries processed 60.83 million tons of Crude Oil in November, up 4% from a year ago but slightly below October’s daily rate. Stronger output at independent refineries offset slower production at state-owned facilities due to maintenance. December will be crucial for matching last year’s record processing levels, Commerzbank's FX analyst Michael Pfister notes.

Independent refineries offset state-owned maintenance slowdown

"Refineries in China processed 60.83 million tons of Crude Oil in November, as reported by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) at the beginning of the week. This corresponds to 14.82 million barrels per day. Crude Oil processing was thus 4% higher than in the previous year, but slightly below the level of the previous month on a daily basis."

"A more significant decline was prevented by higher processing at independent refineries, which had previously been granted new import quotas. This almost compensated for lower processing at state-owned refineries due to maintenance work. Crude Oil processing in China is likely to rise this year. After 11 months, the increase compared to the same period last year is 4%."

"To reach previous year's figure, a good 33 million tons would have to be processed in December. That is slightly more than half of the usual monthly volume. To reach the record level of 2023, processing in December would have to amount to just under 60 million tons, which is in line with the December levels recorded in recent years."