China's commercial crude oil stocks fell 3.6% at the end of December from a month earlier, according to China Petroleum Stockpile Statistics compiled by state news agency Xinhua and released on Monday.
The fall in stocks was due to record high crude runs, Xinhua said. No absolute volumes were provided in the report. China's National Bureau of Statistics had reported January 18 that December 2012 crude runs had risen 8.4% year on year to 10.2 million b/d.
At the end of November last year, commercial crude stocks had fallen 1% month on month.
According to the International Energy Agency's latest Oil Market Report released January 18, the November dip in China's commercial crude oil stocks reported by Xinhua corresponded to a drop of 2.2 million barrels. This suggests that the 3.6% dip in December puts total commercial crude oil stocks at the end of that month at 210 million barrels.
Meanwhile, China's oil product stocks at the end of December rose 4.2% month on month, according to Xinhua's data.
Gasoline inventories climbed 8.5%, gasoil stocks edged up 1.9% while kerosene stocks fell 4% from a month earlier.
At the end of November, oil product stocks had risen 4.1% month on month, gasoline inventories 7%, kerosene stocks 3.4% and gasoil stocks 1.9% from a month earlier.
