Shandong independent refineries have reported a decrease in their imported feedstock inventory, with a storage rate of 49.17% by April 12. This marks a week-on-week decline of 0.06 percentage points and a year-on-year decrease of 4.06 percentage points, according to OilChem. The decline is mainly attributed to weaker demand for imported feedstock due to large-scale maintenance and rising import prices.
Data from OilChem shows that the CDU capacity utilization rate of Shandong independent refineries was 61.69% by April 13, down 2.87 percentage points month-on-month and up 9.92 percentage points year-on-year. This has put a cap on demand for imported feedstock.
Shandong independent refineries have also shown weak demand for imported crude oil and cutback bitumen due to continuous increases in import prices. Furthermore, restrictions on customs clearance of cutback bitumen have made it difficult for independent refineries without import quotas to purchase imported cutback bitumen, further dampening demand.
OilChem predicts that Shandong independent refineries may experience an improvement in imported feedstock purchases in the later stage as restrictions on cutback bitumen customs clearance are not expected to persist.
Written by Catherine Sun, sss@oilchem.net
Edited by Navy Liu, navy@oilchem.net