MOSCOW (MRC) -- China's September crude oil throughput extended its downtrend to dip 0.7% from August to a 17-month low of 13.7 million b/d amid a slow down in the economy and product destocking activity, reported S&P Global with reference to data from the National Bureau of Statistics on Oct. 18.
The country's crude throughput was last lower at 13.16 million b/d in April 2020.
This led China's third-quarter 2021 throughput to average 13.83 million b/d, which was the lowest quarterly volume since Q2 2020 when it stood at 13.68 million b/d.
The weakness was more or less in line with the country's economic growth, with GDP expanding at a slower rate of 4.9% year on year in the quarter, from 7.9% in Q2. China's GDP growth in Q3 was also its weakest pace since its economy grew 4.9% in Q3 2020.
But the reduction in throughput looked to have outpaced the decline in demand, causing supply to tighten and push domestic oil product prices higher in September amid destocking activity.
On metric tons basis, the volume in September dropped 3.9% to 56.07 million mt from August and declined 2.6% from a year ago.
In the first nine months, China processed 14.15 million b/d, or 526.87 million mt, of crude oil, rising 6.6% year on year.
In the upstream sector, the country produced 4.06 million b/d of crude, the highest level since June 2016 when it stood at 4.08 million b/d.
China's crude production is expected to remain on the recovery path at a steady pace as the country ensures stable domestic energy supply.
During January-September, China's crude output was at 4.02 million b/d, or 149.84 million mt, growing 2.9% on a barrels per day basis.
As MRC informed earlier, China's crude oil imports fell 4.7% on the month to 10.03 million b/d in September, accrding to the latest data from the General Administration of Customs, or GAC, on Oct. 13. The reduction indicated weak momentum for imports for the rest of the year, analysts said.
We remind that China's oil consumption is likely to peak around 2026 at about 16 million barrels per day and that of natural gas by around 2040, said a top executive of Sinopec Corp. in September 2021.
We also remind that in August 2021, China Petroleum and Chemical Corp, also known as Sinopec, the world's petrochemical major, launched the first phase of the Gulei refining complex in Zhangzhou city in China’s southeastern Fujian province. The refining complex, a 50:50 joint venture between Sinopec’s Fujian Petrochemical Company Ltd and Taiwan Xuteng Investment Company Ltd, invested 27.8 billion yuan (USD4.28 billion) in the first phase. That will result in an 800,000 tonnes per annum ethylene plant, a 600,000 tonnes per annum styrene unit and seven other downstream petrochemical units, Sinopec said.
Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,638,370 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 10% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 989,570 tonnes in the first eight months of 2021, up by 30% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas shipments of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
MRC