Chinese state-owned refiners' crude runs are expected to be cut further to an average of 79% in July, compared with 82% in June, a Platts monthly survey showed.
The survey covered PetroChina's 12 refineries, Sinopec's 19 refineries and CNOOC's Huizhou refinery, with a combined processing capacity of around 340 million mt/year (6.83 million b/d).
The 32 refineries surveyed by Platts plan to process a total of 23.13 million mt crude oil, or 5.28 million b/d, in July, accounting for around 79% of their nameplate capacity.
In comparison, 31 of the state-owned refineries surveyed processed 22.31 million mt (5.45 million b/d) of crude oil in June, accounting for around 82% of their total processing capacity.
Market sources said that a mass of refinery turnarounds in July have inevitably pushed down crude runs.
Sinopec's 19 surveyed refineries plan to process 14.92 million mt of crude oil in July, or 77% of their nameplate processing capacity. The run rate is 5 percentage points lower than June's 84%, the survey said.
Sinopec's 10 million mt/year Qingdao Petrochemical Co. refinery in east China has completely shut down from June 20 for a 50-day scheduled maintenance that will last until August 5. As a result, the refinery's crude throughput is zero this month.
In addition, Sinopec's 15 million mt/year Qilu Petrochemical Co. refinery in north China will shut a 1.4 million mt/year delayed coker for a one-week scheduled maintenance starting this weekend. The refinery plans to process 870,000 mt of crude oil in July, down from 910,000 mt in June.
Sinopec's 13.5 million mt/year Maoming Petrochemical Co. refinery in south China has shut a 2.5 million mt/year crude distillation unit, a 1 million mt/year hydrocracker and a 1.1 million mt/year delayed coker for a scheduled maintenance since July 20, sources said. These units are expected to resume operations gradually in August, according to a refinery source.
As a result, the refinery plans to process 1.18 million mt of crude oil in July, down from June's 1.22 million mt.
Sources also said Sinopec's 14 million mt/year Yanshan Petrochemical Co. refinery and 10 million mt/year Luoyang Petrochemical refinery in the north planned to shut some refining units for maintenance in July and August, but details were not available.
PETROCHINA KEEPS RUN RATE STEADY IN JULY
PetroChina's 12 surveyed refineries plan to process 7.37 million mt of crude oil, or 78% of their nameplate processing capacity in July, which is the same as last month.
Six of PetroChina's refineries have been undergoing maintenance or plan to shut for maintenance in July, the survey said.
These six refineries are the 20.5 million mt/year Dalian Petrochemical refinery, the 6 million mt/year Daqing Petrochemical refinery, the 7.5 million mt/year Jinzhou Petrochemical refinery, 7 million mt/year Jinxi Petrochemical refinery, 10.5 million mt/year Lanzhou Petrochemical refinery and 16 million mt/year Dushanzi Petrochemical refinery.
PetroChina's Dalian Petrochemical Co. refinery northeast China has shut several refining units for scheduled maintenance since May 20. Most of those units were said to have resumed operations since July 11, except for its CDUs, which are not expected to be restarted until August.
The refinery plans to process 1.25 million mt of crude oil in July, up from June's 750,000 mt.
However, PetroChina's Jinxi Petrochemical Co. refinery in northeast China started scheduled maintenance on June 15, shutting a 3 million mt/year CDU, a 1.8 million mt/year fluid catalytic cracking unit, a 1.8 million mt/year delayed coker, and a 1.2 million mt/year gasoline hydrogenation for scheduled maintenance.
As a result, the refinery's crude runs are expected to drop to 34% in July, compared with around 63% in June, refinery sources said.
Moreover, PetroChina's Lanzhou Petrochemical Co. refinery in northwest China has shut a 5 million mt/year CDU, a 3 million mt/year FCC unit and a 1.2 million mt/year delayed coking unit for a scheduled maintenance starting June 20. Those units are expected to resume operations next week. As a result, the refinery plans to operate at a run rate of 65% in July, down from 83% in June.
CNOOC's 12 million mt/year Huizhou refinery in south China plans to operate at a run rate of 82% in July, down from 86% in June. The refinery was said to have shut a 2 million mt/year FCC unit for maintenance starting July 11, after a fire.
