China refinery runs drop to 15 year low

Crude throughputs in China dropped 286K b/d m-o-m in March to 11.8M b/d (-700K b/d y-o-y), a 15-year low, data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows. The slump in runs is a sign the country is still recovering from the impact of coronavirus. China crude imports fell 800K b/d m-o-m to 9.7M b/d in March but were 491K b/d higher y-o-y, China customs data shows. Imports were likely lower in March as a result of stock builds over the previous two months from the lower refinery runs.