China September crude stockbuild rises to 665,000 b/d

Singapore (Platts)--23Oct2014/946 am EDT/1346 GMT

China's total crude supply exceeded refinery throughput in September, implying 665,000 b/d of crude was added to domestic storage, according to Platts calculations Wednesday based on government data.

The stockbuild last month was more than double the August addition to stocks of 279,000 b/d, although it was 35.5% lower than in September 2013.

The level of stocks held by refiners in China is not disclosed.

Platts calculates China's net crude stock draw or build by subtracting refinery throughput from the country's crude oil supply in a given month. The latter volume takes into account net imports and domestic production of crude.

Net crude imports in September rose 7.4% year on year to 6.74 million b/d, according to General Administration of Customs data on October 13.

Refinery throughput, meanwhile, rose 9.1% to 10.27 million b/d last month, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Tuesday. Domestic crude production was stable year on year earlier at 4.19 million b/d.

That resulted in 665,000 b/d of surplus crude outside the refining system, which likely went into refiners' stocks.

Over January to September, the amount of crude that likely went into storage averaged 391,000 b/d, up from 289,000 b/d in the 2013 period, according to Platts calculations.

There have only been two months this year -- May and July -- when there was an implied drawdown in crude stocks because refining throughput exceeded overall crude supply.

China's crude imports this year have grown faster than last year -- 8.3% over the first nine months, of the year versus 5.3% in January-September 2013.

Analysts have attributed the higher imports, in part, to the filling of China's strategic petroleum reserves.

--Song Yen Ling, yenling.song@platts.com
--Edited by Dan Lalor, daniel.lalor@platts.com

http://www.platts.com/latest-news/oil/singapore/china-september-crude-stockbuild-rises-to-665000-21438223