China, the world’s second-largest energy user, refined a record volume of crude oil last year as a recovering economy increased demand for fuels.

Oil processing rose 7.9 percent to 374.6 million metric tons, or 7.5
million barrels a day, said China Mainland Marketing Research Co.,
which compiles data for the government. China also refined a record
34.6 million tons in December, up 25 percent from a year earlier and
topping the previous high in November.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. processed more crude last year
while China National Petroleum Corp., the parent of PetroChina Co.,
boosted overseas production as manufacturing and vehicle sales spurred
energy consumption. China, which expanded at the fastest pace since
2007 in the fourth quarter, will grow four times more quickly than the
U.S. this year, the United Nations said last month.

“Refining volumes this year will definitely rise further because fuel
sales will get better as the economy continues to improve,” Qiu
Xiaofeng, an oil analyst with China Merchants Securities Ltd., said by
telephone in Shanghai.

The Chinese economy expanded 10.7 percent in the fourth quarter as the
nation’s $586 billion stimulus program and record bank loans lifted
industrial production.

Chinese refineries, with an annual processing capacity of about 510
million tons, may increase volumes to 400 million tons this year,
according to a statement on the Web site of China Petrochemical Corp.
dated Jan. 19. China Petrochemical, the parent of China Petroleum, is
Asia’s largest refiner.

Twenty-one refineries increased their operating rates to an average of
81.1 percent as of Jan. 7 from 77.9 percent two weeks earlier, the
Shanghai-based commodities researcher CBI China Co. said on Jan. 8.

Rising Fuel Output

Last year, China’s gasoline production gained 13 percent to 71.9
million tons as the country overtook the U.S. as the world’s largest
auto market. Gasoline output rose 12.3 percent to 6.48 million tons in
December.

Kerosene output surged 27 percent to 14.8 million tons in 2009 and
increased 52 percent to 1.37 million tons last month. Diesel production
climbed 6 percent to 141.3 million tons in 2009 and rose 30 percent to
13.2 million tons in December.

Natural gas output rose 7.7 percent to 83 billion cubic meters last
year and increased 8 percent to 7.36 billion cubic meters in December.

Source: Bloomberg

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