By Jim Bai and Aizhu Chen
BEIJING, Nov 6 (Reuters) - China's leading refineries will
raise their crude processing mildly in November to a record
high as signs of recovering demand are piling up while a
widely-expected fuel price hike nears.
Twelve major plants accounting for more than a third of
China's capacity, most of them on the country's eastern and
southern seaboards, plans to process 2.70 million barrels per
day (bpd) of crude oil in November, 1.1 percent higher than
October, a Reuters poll showed.
The volume would represent around 90 percent of their total
refining capacity.
For a history of crude runs by these plants, please
click:
here
Fujian Refining & Petrochemical Co Ltd, a joint venture
between Sinopec Corp (0386.HK) (600028.SS), Exxon Mobil (XOM.N)
and Saudi Aramco, is expected to continue to rev up operations
this month. It will hold a formal launching ceremony next week.
Crude throughput at PetroChina's (0857.HK)(601857.SS) Jinxi
will tilt up after a sharp increase of more than 60 percent in
October, but the level would still be far below its capacity
due to insufficient complementary downstream facilities.
Senior Sinopec officials have said the top refiner in Asia
suffered a refining loss in October but sales were expected to
improve continuously. One of the officials forecast a
profitable fourth quarter because of confidence in China's fuel
pricing scheme that guarantees a profit margin if oil prices
are below $80 a barrel.[ID:nPEK322955][ID:nPEK166337]
Analysts said last week that China may raise retail fuel
prices by 5-6 percent after benchmark crude prices rose more
than 6 percent since Beijing's last price move in September.
[ID:nPEK365823]
The moving average of international crude oil prices, on
which China's fuel prices are based, climbed further this week.
"An increase was certain, but the timing was uncertain and
the government would not explain," one Shanghai-based oil
analyst said.
China's apparent oil demand rose 12.5 percent in September
from a year earlier, the sixth rise in a row and the fastest
rate since June 2006, Reuters calculation showed.
[ID:nPEK285530]
China's energy authorities also forecast a double-digit
growth rate of apparent demand for refined oil products, mainly
gasoline, diesel and kerosene, in the fourth quarter on the
back of an improving economy. [ID:nPEK228771]
Fuel stocks held by Sinopec Group and CNPC, which operate a
majority of their businesses via listed Sinopec Corp and
PetroChina respectively, fell for the second month in a row in
September, despite record crude throughput, partly indicating
healthier fuel demand.
========================================================
PLANT OCT RUNS SEPT RUNS REFINING CAPACITY
(bpd)
========================================================
Zhenhai 389,300 389,300 400,000
Maoming 243,300 247,300 270,000
Qilu 209,300 204,900 200,000
Gaoqiao 211,900 211,900 230,000
Guangzhou 231,200 226,100 270,000
Jinling 238,500 240,200 270,000
Dalian 335,800 334,400 410,000
Lanzhou 193,500 195,500 200,000
Fujian 219,000 207,200 240,000
Jinzhou 136,300 134,300 140,000
Jinxi 109,500 98,900 150,000
WEPEC 180,100 176,600 200,000
======================================================
TOTAL* 2.70 2.67 2.98
======================================================
*in million bpd.
(Additional reporting by Eadie Chen)
(Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
