The volume of production at refineries in China decreased by 1.8 in May%

The volume of production at refineries in China decreased by 1.8% compared to last year.
This is due to the planned repair work at the enterprises and the fact that the increase in crude oil prices has negatively affected the profitability of refining.
According to Reuters, in May, refineries processed 60.52 million metric tons of crude oil, which corresponds to 14.25 million barrels per day. This is lower than 14.3 million barrels per day in April, and lower than the 14.6 million barrels processed in May 2023.
In May, large state-owned refineries such as Sinopec and PetroChina, as well as the large private Hengli Petrochemical plant, carried out regular maintenance. Small independent refineries increased operations to 55.53% of their capacity last month, according to Oilchem estimates. This is 0.75% more than in April.
The capacity of Chinese refineries for the period from January to May increased by only 0.3% compared to last year and amounted to 301.77 million metric tons, or 14.49 million barrels per day.