Major Chinese refineries' operating rates averaged 79.66% on Sep 8, down by 0.51 percentage points from two week ago, C1 research showed.
This run rate was close to the lowest level this year, sharply down by 8.3 percentage points from the record high that was set in the second half of May, or down by 5.7 percentage points from a year earlier.
Luoyang Petrochemical started turnaround of 10-mil mt of annual refining capacity and shut down operation in the period and Fushun Petrochemical cut run rate notably because of maintenance of a residue fluid catalytic cracker. The drops outpaced the rise in the operation rate in Dalian Petrochemical, which resumed normal production after maintenance of its 10-mil-mt/yr crude distillate unit.
The average run rate has hovered low at around 78%-81% since late June when peak maintenance arrived, C1 record showed.
The above figures were obtained through computation on the basis of refineries' primary refining capacities. If calculated on the basis of their complex refining ratio, the average run rate would be 87.54% on Sep 8, up by 0.56 percentage points from two weeks ago.
The run rate is expected to inch up in late September as Dushanzi Petrochemical and Changqing Petrochemical are scheduled to wrap up maintenance of 15-mil mt of annual refining capacity in combination. However, the growth will be weakened by maintenance in Jiujiang Petrochemical, Shanghai Petrochemical and Guangxi Petrochemical, and the average operation rate may not exceed 81% before October.
Starting from Aug 25, C1 increased the number of refineries involved in its research from 23 to 35. As a result, the total refining capacity of these refineries rises from 281-mil mt to 363-mil mt per year, accounting for 72% of the overall refining capacity of China’s major refineries.
