China oil refinery output rises to record on firmer demand, export margins

MOSCOW (MRC) - China's oil refinery throughput in August rose to a record, data showed on Friday, as processors in the world's second-largest crude consumer kept run rates high to meet summer travel demand and capitalize on strengthening export margins, said Reuters.

Total refinery throughput was a record 64.69 million metric tons last month, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed, up 19.6% from a year ago, the fastest annual growth since March 2021.

That is the equivalent of 15.23 million barrels per day (bpd), also a record on a daily basis and up from the 12.64 million bpd processed a year earlier when extensive refiners to cut runs. August throughput was also up from July's 14.87 million bpd. Year-to-date throughput gained 11.9% from a year earlier to 491.4 million tons, or 14.76 million bpd.

Domestic demand for gasoline and kerosene over the August vacation season was a key driver of domestic fuel consumption, with travel levels likely to be have been further boosted by "revenge travel" after the pandemic, analysts said ahead of the data.

China's aviation regulator said on Friday that air passenger numbers in August nearly doubled from a year earlier, reaching a historical high of 63.96 million.

Additionally, refiners have been incentivized by additional government fuel export quotas to maintain higher runs to ship fuel overseas and cash-in on stronger profit margins from processing crude amid tighter regional supplies of diesel fuel.

Data from China's customs administration last week showed overall refined fuel exports continued to grow last month, rising 11% from the previous month and 23.3% year-on-year to 5.89 million tons.

Regional refining margins improved last month, averaging $12.60 per barrel versus around $6.60 per barrel in July. The NBS data on Friday also showed China's domestic crude oil production in August gained 3.1% from a year earlier to 17.47 million metric tons, or 4.11 million bpd. The year-to-date volume rose 2.1% from a year earlier to 139.85 million tons, or 4.2 million bpd.

Natural gas production last month rose 6.3% from a year earlier to 18.1 billion cubic meters (bcm), the NBS said.

We remind, Russia is shipping its first crude oil cargo to Brazil, as it seeks to diversify its list of buyers, which has been drastically limited by U.S. and EU sanctions. Russia has been heavily relying on India and China as main buyers of its crude after European embargo and price cap policies were imposed in December last year after Russia's action in Ukraine that Moscow calls a special military operation.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- India is not planning to levy any new tax on diesel vehicles, the country's transport minister told news channel CNBC-TV18 on Thursday, two days after he warned automakers to reduce diesel production or face higher taxation, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

"I am not against diesel and neither are we going to levy any new tax on diesel vehicles," Nitin Gadkari, the federal road transport minister, told the channel.

Gadkari's comments were a marked step back from his speech at an auto industry conference on Tuesday when he warned carmakers to reduce production of diesel vehicles or face higher taxation, causing shares of automakers like automakers Mahindra and Mahindra, Tata Motors and commercial vehicle maker, Ashok Leyland to drop between 2.2% and 2.5%.

In the speech, Gadkari had said he would ask the finance minister for an "additional 10%" goods and services tax on diesel vehicles to tackle problems related to pollution. India currently imposes a 28% tax on diesel vehicles and an additional tax called a cess is levied depending on the engine capacity.

We remind, Russia is shipping its first crude oil cargo to Brazil, as it seeks to diversify its list of buyers, which has been drastically limited by U.S. and EU sanctions. Russia has been heavily relying on India and China as main buyers of its crude after European embargo and price cap policies were imposed in December last year after Russia's action in Ukraine that Moscow calls a special military operation.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Brenntag started operations of its new personal care Innovation & Application Center in Lille, France, said Chemanager-online.

The facility, which is located in Arteparc, the regions first business park fully based on circular economy and renewable energies, will provide Brenntag’s customers and suppliers with concepts and prototype development, customized formulation support, technical solutions and stability studies for a broad range of applications.

Brenntag said that it chose Lille for the new Innovation & Application Center due to its proximity to many suppliers and customers in the personal care industry in the region.

According to Brenntag, the company has also very strong links to the university of Lille and cooperates with the Chevreul Institute, which aims to develop research collaborations and services in the field of chemistry and materials.

“The opening of the Lille Center is a further step to execute Brenntag’s ‘Strategy to Win’ by building capabilities and offering innovative services to the regional and global personal care industry. Brenntag Specialties acts as an important link with our customers and suppliers to bring innovation closer to the marketplace. The new center is a great addition to the strong network of now already 18 Personal Care / HI&I Innovation & Application Centres globally and four in the EMEA region,” commented Michael Wilkop, President Personal Care / HI&I Brenntag Specialties EMEA.

“Lille is an ideal location for our Innovation & Application Center, given its thriving ecosystem of R&D partners, technology providers and talent,” said Francois Bouton, director Innovation & Application PC / HI&I Brenntag Specialties EMEA.

We remind, Brenntag has signed an agreement to acquire the operating business of Chemgrit cosmetics (Pty) Ltd., headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa. The company, part of the larger Chemgrit chemicals group, is an independent specialty chemical distributor in South Africa with a focus on personal care and cleaning markets.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- TotalEnergies and Air Liquide have signed an agreement for the long-term supply of green and low carbon hydrogen to the TotalEnergies refining and petrochemical platform in Normandy, said the company.

The project will contribute to the decarbonization of the Gonfrevillle site, reducing its CO2 emissions by up to 150,000 tons a year. This cooperation between Air Liquide and TotalEnergies is aligned with the two companies’ shared commitment to contributing to decarbonize industrial operations in the Axe Seine corridor.

The project calls for the supply of 10,000 tons of green hydrogen per year to the TotalEnergies platform in Normandy and up to 5,000 tons per year of low carbon hydrogen starting from the second half of 2026. It is comprised of two integrated parts:

The production of green and low carbon hydrogen by the Normand’hy electrolyzer, which will be built and operated by Air Liquide, with a total electrical capacity of 200 MW. TotalEnergies will have access to half of this production capacity, corresponding to the amount of hydrogen supplied to its refinery.
TotalEnergies will supply around 700 GWh/year of renewable and low carbon power to the Air Liquide electrolyzer for half of its capacity, i.e. 100 MW, corresponding to the share of hydrogen delivered to the TotalEnergies refinery in Normandy.

"This partnership with Air Liquide is a new step in TotalEnergies' ambition to decarbonize the hydrogen used by its refineries in Europe by 2030. By supplying the electrolyzer with renewable electricity from solar and wind projects, TotalEnergies is making the most of its positioning as an integrated power supplier," said Bernard Pinatel, President Refining & Chemicals.

"This Memorandum of Understanding with TotalEnergies illustrates our ability to offer concrete decarbonization solutions to our customers. Air Liquide Normand’Hy will contribute to the decarbonization trajectory of our assets; it is also in line with our commitment to accompany the industry and mobility sectors in their path to reducing their carbon footprint. Our collaboration with TotalEnergies also strengthens hydrogen development in Normandy. Supported by the French State and the European Union, the Air Liquide Normand’Hy project confirms our commitment to develop renewable and low-carbon hydrogen production by electrolysis technology at industrial scale." said Pascal Vinet, Executive Vice President and a member of Air Liquide’s Executive Committee, supervising notably Europe Industries activities.

We remind, TotalEnergies restarted the coker at its 238,000-bpd Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, said people familiar with plant operations. TotalEnergies restarted the 150,000-pd ACU-1 crude distillation unit (CDU) and 60,000-bpd vacuum distillation unit-2 (VDU-2), the sources said. A TotalEnergies spokesperson was not immediately available to comment.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Singapore's middle distillates inventories hit a near six-month high, official data showed on Thursday, as jet fuel/kerosene net exports were little changed despite rising gasoil net exports week-on-week, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Inventories of gasoil and jet fuel/kerosene held at key storage hub Singapore climbed by 4% week-on-week to 9.1 million barrels in the week ended Sept. 13, the data added. Jet fuel/kerosene net exports were almost unchanged from last week, as a surge in imports offset higher exports.

Imports into Singapore came mostly from Malaysia, while some volumes headed to the West such as Mexico contributed to the increments in exports. Congestion at the Panama Canal, which has made it more lucrative for buyers to seek cargoes from Asia instead of the U.S., could have been one of the reasons drawing cargoes from Asia to Latin America, two shipping sources said.

Around 11,200 metric tons of jet fuel were bound for Pemex Rosarito, Kpler shiptracking data showed. Gasoil exports to Mexico - slightly more than 26,000 tons - were also evident for the week, the data showed.

Total exports of gasoil more than doubled from a week ago, with majority of volumes still bound for regional destinations especially Malaysia, Bangladesh and Vietnam - limiting overall stock gains in Singapore.

Exports to Australia for the week fell to almost zero, with some trade sources attributing it to potential supply recovery soon after a refinery outage at Viva Energy's site earlier this year. Regional gasoil demand is likely to remain steady until the fourth quarter, supporting the steady cargo flows out Singapore, one Singapore-based analyst said.

Below are the top contributor countries for gasoil exports in the week and their respective volumes (in tons): On the import front, volumes from China, India and South Korea continued in line with earlier expectations. Volumes from Taiwan also emerged after a three-week hiatus, the data showed.

We remind, Maersk has teamed up with its majority owner to form a new company to produce "green methanol", the shipping company said on Thursday, as it held a naming ceremony for the world's first container vessel powered by the low-carbon fuel. Green methanol, produced either from biomass or captured carbon and hydrogen from renewable power, can reduce carbon dioxide emissions from container ships by 60% to 95% compared with conventional fossil fuels.

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