Crude refining in the world’s second-largest oil consumer increased 2.4% from a year earlier to 44.75 million tons last month, or about 10.93 million barrels a day, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Saturday.
That is up 1.2% from the previous record of 10.8 million barrels a day in December.
Independent refineries, known as teapots, have been increasing runs after they were allowed to import crude oil. The utilization rate at the plants in eastern Shandong Province increased to 53% of capacity as of April 29, a report in the industry website Oilchem.net was cited by Bloomberg.
That is the highest since at least August 2011, when Bloomberg started compiling the data.
China’s inbound oil shipments in April rose 3.2% from the previous month to 7.96 million barrels a day and near the February high. Crude imports through Shandong’s Qingdao Port surged to a record in March and accounted for about 30% of the country’s total.
Chinese crude output fell 5.6% from a year earlier to 16.59 million tons (4.05 million barrels a day), Saturday’s data showed.
