China's refinery throughput in April rose 2.4% year on year to 44.75 million mt, or an average 10.93 million b/d, preliminary data released Saturday by the National Bureau of Statistics showed.
The total was down 3% from 44.91 million mt in March, when throughput posted the first year-on-year decline since March 2015. However on a daily basis, April throughput was up 2.9% from 10.62 million b/d in March.
A Platts survey in April of 28 of China's largest state-owned refineries operated by Sinopec, PetroChina and China National Offshore Oil Corporation put average utilization at 77% of nameplate capacity, unchanged from March and edging down from 78% in April 2015.
In contrast, the country's independent refineries have steadily ramped up crude throughput on good refining margins since being granted access to imported crudes in July 2015.
Feedstock consumption at independent refineries in eastern Shandong province -- 97% of it crude -- hit a record high 6.76 million mt in April, up 75% year on year and up 5% from March, according to data from Beijing-based energy information provider JYD.
Confronted with fierce competition from independent refineries, China's state-owned refiners generally kept their run rates steady.
Although some refineries affiliated to Sinopec and PetroChina lowered rates due to scheduled or unscheduled maintenance, others raised rates to compensate for that reduction in supply, according to the survey.
The increase in oil products flowing out of Shandong's independent refineries is eating into the market share of state-owned ones, refinery sources at state-owned refiners have said.
Gasoil and gasoline sales by independent Shandong refineries in April were up 76% year on year, according to the JYD data.
Over January-April, refinery runs across the country were up 2.9% year on year at 177.11 million mt, or an average 10.73 million b/d, NBS data showed.
This is slower than the pace of growth posted in the same period of 2015, when refinery runs were up 3.3% year on year, suggesting oil demand growth has slowed to date in 2016 in line with general economic growth.
China's industrial output in April was up 6% year on year, down from the annual growth of 6.8% seen in March, NBS data showed.
China's crude oil production in April fell 5.6% year on year to 16.59 million mt, or 4.04 million b/d, the lowest since July 2013 on a daily basis. January-April output was down 2.7% at 68.14 million mt, according to the NBS.
However, China's natural gas production rose 5.6% year on year to 10.6 Bcm in April, and was up 5.3% year on year at 48 Bcm over January-April.
