China's feedstock imports by independent refineries arriving at ports in Shandong and Tianjin are estimated at 10.1 million tonnes in September, down slightly 4.7% from August, but rising 24.6% from last year, per OilChem tracking.
In detail, the imports consisted of 72.59% crude oil, 7.38% fuel oil, and 19.67% bitumen mixtures. The crude oil imports lost around 1.6 million t month on month, and the proportion in total imports also dropped 12.02 percentage points. Contrarily, the imports of bitumen mixtures surged 1.1 million t from August, with the share rising 11.7 percentage points. Fuel oil imports were generally flat.
Source: OilChem
Domestic independent refineries' dependence on traditional feedstock has been falling, while the imports of fuel oil and bitumen mixtures are on the rise. Nevertheless, the crude oil import volume is still subject to the import quotas. That is, when the fourth batch of crude oil import quotas was less than expected, the popularity of other varieties like fuel oil and bitumen mixtures has picked up.
Written by Aggie Hu, huchenying@mysteel.com
Edited by Navy Liu, liuchuanjun@mysteel.com