China processed a good 63 million tons of crude Oil in July, which corresponds to a daily volume of 14.85 million barrels, Commerzbank's commodity analyst Carsten Fritsch notes.

Volume processed is 1.3% higher than in the same period last year

"According to the National Bureau of Statistics, processing was up 8.9% on the previous year. Based on the available data, the increase amounts to 6.8%. The decline of nearly 2% compared to the previous month can be explained by the high comparative level in June, when crude Oil processing reached its highest level since September 2023 on a daily basis."

"In the first seven months of the year, Chinese refineries processed a total of just under 425 million tons or 14.64 million barrels per day of crude Oil. The volume processed was thus 1.3% higher than in the same period last year."

"Due to the monthly decline in processing, there was also an implied stock build of the equivalent of 530,000 barrels per day in July when processing is set against China's crude Oil imports and crude Oil production. The fact that the oversupply was 900,000 barrels per day lower than in June was due to the sharp decline in imports and a slight drop in crude Oil production."