Chinese crude runs fall 1.7M b/d in January and February

Chinese crude runs fell to 12.1M b/d in January and February, down 1.7 b/d from December, according to data from the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics.

There was no breakdown of runs for the two months, but oil analysts estimate cuts were deeper in February compared with January as comprehensive measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus only began on 20 January. Crude imports for the same months fell by just 237K b/d, implying a stock build of more than 2M b/d.

Meanwhile, on Sunday evening the US Federal Reserve announced it was dropping the benchmark interest rate range to 0%-0.25% and launching a new round of quantitative easing worth $700B in asset purchases. Despite these measures, the US stock market fell sharply after opening on Monday.