Posting this as an ICYMI. It comes via Bloomberg (gated). In very brief:
- China’s refining sector is set up mainly to serve its domestic market
- The government controls how much fuel can be sent abroad via a quota system
- It had 17.5 million barrels a day of capacity at the end of 2020, and will reach 20 million by 2025
- China’s big state-owned refiners, which make up around three-quarters of the industry, were running at around 71 per cent of capacity on June 10
Output in China has been subdued for many months.
