China's coal production in October rose 4.6% on an annual basis
China's coal production rose by 4.6% from a month earlier in October, according to data released on Friday. The increase was due to the recovery of production from safety-related restrictions a year before. National Bureau of Statistics data showed that the world's biggest coal producer, China, mined 411.8 millions metric tons of coal last month. This was because the safety inspections that took place in September and Octobre 2023, which limited production, had a low baseline. The production in October was slightly lower than the 16-month record of 414.46 millions tons reached in September.
China's refinery output in September fell for the sixth consecutive month
China's refinery production fell 5.4% in January compared to a year ago, according to official data released on Friday. This is the sixth consecutive month of declines, despite the opening of a brand new plant, as low fuel consumption and thin refining margins slowed processing. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), according to its data, showed that refiners processed 58.73 millions metric tons of crude last month. This is equivalent to 14,29 million barrels of oil per day. As some refineries began to operate again after planned maintenance and a new refinery was opened in Shandong…
Sinopec reports east China's shale field pumps 1,600 tons of oil per day
Sinopec, the state oil group, announced on Wednesday that it is progressing with the development of shale oils at its Jiyang pilot project in east China. The company now pumps 1,600 tons per day, up from just 100 tons in 2020. Sinopec, at this rate, is on course to meet a 2022 target of producing 500,000 tons per year by 2025 in Jiyang. Jiyang is located mainly in Shandong Province and covers 7,300 square kilometers (1.8 million acres). China's oil companies have increased their efforts to extract shale deposits that are difficult to access to compensate for the rapidly depleting older conventional oilfields.
Iranian Oil Exports End 2022 at a High, Despite No Nuclear Deal
Iranian oil exports hit new highs in the last two months of 2022 and are making a strong start to 2023 despite U.S. sanctions, according to companies that track the flows, on higher shipments to China and Venezuela.Tehran's oil exports have been limited since former U.S. President Donald Trump in 2018 exited a 2015 nuclear accord and reimposed sanctions aimed at curbing oil exports and the associated revenue to Iran's government.Exports have risen during the term of his successor President Joe Biden, who had sought to revive the nuclear deal, and hit the highest since 2019 on some estimates.
China's Sinopec Finds Shale Oil at Shengli Field
A unit of state-run oil Chinese and gas major Sinopec Corp has found an initial 458 million tonnes (3.34 billion barrels) of geological shale oil reserves at its Shengli field, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday.Shengli, in Shandong province, is one of China's largest conventional oil and gas fields but Sinopec, has been exploring the Jiyang trough at the deposit for unconventional resources in a bid to bolster production.In 2019, the company, which operates China's biggest shale gas project in Chongqing, agreed to study shale oil potential in the Dongying trough at Shengli with Royal Dutch Shell
China's Crude Oil Imports Rebound
China's crude oil imports rebounded in July from a six-month low as state-backed refiners ramped up output after returning from maintenance, though independent refineries slowed restocking amid probes by Beijing into trading and taxes.China brought in 41.24 million tonnes of crude oil last month, equivalent to 9.71 million barrels per day (bpd), data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Saturday.That compares with 40.14 million tonnes in June and 51.29 million tonnes in July 2020.In the first seven months of the year, China, the world's top crude oil importer, took in 301.83 million tonnes, or 10.
China Grants Zheijang First Private Fuel Export License
China has granted Zhejiang Petroleum & Chemical Co (ZPC) a license to export refined oil products, making it the first private oil refiner to win such permission, two sources with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday.The license would allow ZPC to directly sell oil products to the international market, competing against state-owned refiners and helping to ease oversupply pressure in China's domestic market.However, the refiner will still need to be granted a government quota that will determine the size of its exports before it can begin shipments…
China Approves $20B Mega Petchem Complex
China's state planner has given initial approval for a $20 billion refinery and petrochemical project to be built in Shandong province, the country's hub for independent oil refineries, said two persons with knowledge of the matter.China's National Development & Reform Commission (NDRC) gave a green light on Monday for the Shandong provincial government to start planning a 400,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery and 3 million tonne-per-year ethylene plant in Yantai, said the two China-based industry sources.The project in the eastern Chinese province was first proposed several years ago…
Lightning Sparks Fire at Hengyuan's Malaysian Refinery
Hengyuan Refining Company Bhd said on Friday that a tank storing crude oil had caught fire at its refinery on the Malaysian west coast.Preliminary investigations show the fire at the Port Dickson refinery was due to a lightning strike, the company said in a statement."The damages sustained from the fire incident are restricted to one crude tank area," the company said.The fire affected a 10,000-litre capacity oil tank, Malaysian state news agency Bernama reported, citing fire and rescue department officials.
Petrobras Sees No Need to Cut Oil Production
Brazil's state-run Petrobras sees no need for cuts in oil production, executives say, as the market for its crude remains robust in China, while domestic demand for fuel picks up amid social distancing fatigue in Latin America's largest economy.On a Friday earnings call with analysts, executives credited the company's strong relationship with independent refineries in China's Shandong Province, known as "teapots,"' for allowing Petrobras to export a record amount of crude in recent months, even as some economies are effectively shut.
Trafigura Merging China Oil Operations in New Shanghai Trading Desk
Swiss commodities merchant Trafigura plans to merge its three-year-old crude oil marketing office in Qingdao, in east China's Shandong province, with an oil desk being set up in Shanghai, according to three sources with knowledge of the matter.Trafigura earlier this year created a head oil trader position in its Shanghai office, which has long focused on metals, said the sources. Huang Shufu, from the company's Singapore-based oil team, was made the team leader, they said.Trafigura declined to comment on the merging of the offices or on the appointment of Huang to head the Shanghai oil team.
Chinese Buyers Snap Up U.S. Oil Purchases at Widest Discounts Ever
China has increased U.S. crude purchases with some buyers snapping up cargoes at the widest discounts ever as sellers seek to offload excess supplies in Asia, six trade sources said on Wednesday.China started processing in March applications from its companies to waive import tariffs on U.S. energy goods as part of the Sino-U.S. Phase 1 trade deal and they have since bought liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from the United States.The world's largest crude importer is boosting U.S.
Coronavirus Leaves China-bound Tankers Stranded
The coronavirus's effect on energy markets is worsening, as the sharp fall in demand in China, the world's largest importer of crude, is stranding oil cargoes off the country's coast and prompting shippers to seek out other Asian destinations.More than 1,360 people have died from the coronavirus in China, which has disrupted the world's second largest economy and shaken energy markets, with international benchmark Brent crude oil down 15% since the beginning of the year.Major international energy forecasters expect demand to fall in this quarter…
Coronavirus Paralyzes Oil, Gas Sales into China
Short-term sales of crude oil and liquefied natural gas into China almost ground to a halt this week as the coronavirus slows economic activity and cuts demand and buyers ponder legal action to avoid having to honor purchase agreements, trade sources said.Typically, trade would have revived after the Lunar New Year holiday at the end of January, but China has extended the break into February to try to contain the fast-spreading coronavirus, which has claimed nearly 500 lives.As a result, commodity supply chains have been disrupted with shipments cancelled or delayed and stocks piling up…
Oil Falls as Coronavirus Hits Demand
Oil prices fell on Monday, dragged down by concern over demand in China after the coronavirus breakout, though the possibility of deeper crude output cuts by OPEC and its allies offered some price support.Brent crude was down $1 at $55.62 a barrel by 1434 GMT, its lowest since January last year.U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 58 cents to $50.98 after hitting a session low of $50.42, also the lowest since January last year.As the coronavirus outbreak hit fuel demand in China, the world's biggest crude oil importer…
Coronavirus hits Supertanker Rates
Freight rates for supertankers on the Mideast Gulf and U.S. Gulf routes to Asia have fallen to their lowest since mid-September as the coronavirus outbreak hit Chinese oil demand, ship brokers told Reuters.China's Sinopec Corp, Asia's largest refiner, and so-called "teapot" independent refineries have reined in operations in the face of plunging consumption."The market has gone back to what it was before the COSCO sanctions came in," one ship broker said, referring to U.S. sanctions on subsidiaries of the state-owned Chinese shipping company."All the other variables have gone away…
China Issues More Crude Oil Import Quotas
China has lifted its crude oil import quotas to allow mostly private refiners to bring in a further 12.9 million tonnes this year, a document seen by Reuters showed on Tuesday, feeding a new generation of huge refineries.The third batch of quotas was allocated to 19 companies, including private refiner Zhejiang Petroleum & Chemical Co (ZPC), which was awarded 3.5 million tonnes, the document showed.Prior to this, China had issued a crude import quota of 153.1 million tonnes, according to Huatai Futures Co…
Yantai Port to Launch LNG Storage Plants
China's Yantai Port Group aims to launch two jointly-owned liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage facilities by 2022 and expects government approval for them this month, two sources familiar with the matter said.Shandong province, where the Yantai port is located, is an industrial and petrochemical hub in China. It has one quarter of the country's steel capacity and is also a big coal consuming region, though it is yet to house a gas-powered plant.Yantai Port, which holds a 19% stake in the project…
Sinopec Resumes Output at Most Wells Shut by Typhoon
Sinopec Corp has resumed operations at most of the oil and gas wells at its top-producing oilfield, Shengli in east China, after thousands were shut due to typhoon Lekima, parent company Sinopec Group said on Wednesday.The state oil and gas firm has resumed production at 15,318 of the 16,565 crude wells closed by the typhoon, which hit the weekend before last, Sinopec said on its website.The oil well closures caused total production losses of 44,604 tonnes, or about 325,600 barrels, Sinopec said.The group did not specify the loss in natural gas production.Typhoon Lekima…
China Imports First U.S. Crude since November
An oil tanker carrying U.S. crude oil is offloading its cargo at a Chinese port on Friday, marking China's first import from the United States since late November, according to trade sources and Refinitiv data.Trade tensions between the United States and China cut U.S. oil exports to Asia to a trickle in the second half of last year. No U.S. crude volumes were recording going into China October, December and January, according to China customs.The Kara Sea, an Aframax tanker capable of carrying up to 600…
