Singapore (Platts)--20May2010/314 am EDT/714 GMT

Commercial crude inventories in China climbed by 15.5% in the first four months of this year compared with the corresponding period of 2009, while oil companies in Japan and South Korea were shedding their stocks, according to a research report by an energy industry consultancy.

Chinese oil companies collectively held some 228 million barrels of crude stocks in April versus 201 million barrels in the corresponding month of 2009 and 183 million barrels in 2008, Boston-based Energy Security Analysis Inc.'s latest Global Crude Oil Outlook report showed.

Companies in South Korea and Japan, which in contrast to China are catering to either a modestly higher or declining domestic oil demand, had far less crude stockpiled in April as well as in the first four months of 2010 compared with previous years, the data showed.

Japanese oil companies held 112 million barrels of crude stocks in April versus 123 million barrels in the same month of 2009. Their South Korean counterparts sat on 11 million barrels in April compared with 22 million barrels a year ago.

Japanese stocks have continued to slide into May, according to weekly data from the Petroleum Association of Japan, which showed a total of 95.33 million barrels with the country's companies as of May 15, based on the latest figures available.

DIVERGENCE AMONG ASIA'S TOP FOUR USERS

China, Japan, India and South Korea are Asia's top four oil consumers and also its top four crude importers in that order. But the group has seen a sharp divergence over the past few years, with Japan and South Korea registering a drop or at best stagnation in domestic demand, while the appetite has been growing sharply in China and India.

Japan and South Korea, being members of the International Energy Agency, are also required to maintain a minimum 90 days worth of net crude imports as strategic stocks. China and India have over the years depended on commercial stockpiles maintained by state-owned oil companies, but are in the process of setting up strategic inventories to beef up their energy security.

The ESAI report did not have commercial crude stocks data on India.

Official Chinese data on its strategic stocks is rare, but the International Energy Agency recently estimated the China has about 30 days of net imports stockpiled. India is still building its storage infrastructure.

Government statistics show China imported 4.96 million b/d of crude in March, up nearly 29% on year, while its net imports were around 4.89 million b/d. Japan imported 4.04 million b/d in March, India 2.37 million b/d excluding Reliance Industries Ltd.'s new 660,000 b/d Jamnagar refinery, while South Korea shipped in 2.16 million b/d, according to the latest official data available from the respective countries.

JUMP IN CHINA REFINERY THROUGHPUT

Meanwhile, China registered an average refinery throughput of around 8.41 million b/d in April compared with 7.16 million b/d a year ago, and 6.66 million b/d in April 2008, the ESAI report said.

Japanese throughput was 3.72 million b/d/, up from 3.15 million b/d in April 2009 but below the 4.11 million b/d seen in April 2008.

South Korean refinery throughput of roughly 2 million b/d in April was below 2.31 million b/d a year ago and 2.26 million b/d in April 2008, ESAI's data showed.

--Vandana Hari, vandana@platts.com