China has reduced oil production in the first half to 100 million tons, the State Committee for development and reform Commission of the PRC.
China is the largest importer of oil in the world, but the country also mined. For the first six months of this year production was down 4.8%, however the authorities claim that the decline was planned and is due to low oil prices.
For the year the largest company in the country in the purification of oil – Sinopec – plans to reduce production by 7.5% and the largest oil producer PetroChina is 4.8%.
Apparently, Chinese TEK there are certain tactics: when oil is cheaper, they increase the import of “black gold” when oil prices rise, it is advisable to increase production.
By the way, we should also pay attention to the oil refining. Here the price factor, apparently, does not play a key role, and for the first six months, Chinese oil companies have increased production of petroleum products by 7.1% to 159 million tonnes. At the same time consumption rose by 4.4% to 141 million tonnes.
But with natural gas in China the situation is opposite. There has been a significant fall in imports from 21.2% to 35.6 billion cubic meters, while production slightly increased by 2.9% to 67.5 billion cubic meters.
Demonstrates positive dynamics and consumption. It grew in the first half by almost 10% and was 99.5 billion cubic meters.
Recall also that in China, growth of stocks of oil, and traders take this as a signal that demand from China will decline.
This is confirmed by the fact that imports of raw materials in China in June was 7.5 million barrels a day, the lowest figure for the last five months.
The needs of the Chinese market in the “black gold”, according to expert estimates, amount to 7.5-8 million barrels a day, that is almost the same as produced daily in the United States.
Well, the largest supplier of oil to China in recent time Russia has become. According to OPEC, Russia’s share in the Chinese market is 16%, second place in Saudi Arabia 13% and 11% in Iraq.
Estimated S&P Global Platts, Chinese processors have recently started to launch on the market the gasoline and diesel fuel, pushing down prices of the fuel.
Refinery production in China rose to a record level of 11 million barrels per day in June, an increase of 3.2% since June 2015 But the PRC’s domestic market cannot consume so much, so China has increased exports of fuel by 38% yoy.
The sharp increase in fuel exports may itself contain oil prices, but a bigger influence is the state of the economy of China.
Although in the second quarter, GDP grew 6.7%, beating expectations, the economy continues to slow. Growth is now at least the last decade, and this of course means weak demand for oil and oil products. In may, China had almost ceased to import gasoline.
The IEA cut its estimate for oil demand in China by 50 thousand barrels per day. Is expected to increase by 275 thousand during 2016, and in 2017 the results will be even weaker.
