The sharp slowdown in China’s refinery processing in July may be another warning sign that the robust growth in crude oil demand this year in the world’s top importer is poised to moderate. Refinery throughput was 45.5 million tonnes of crude in July, or about 10.71 million barrels per day (bpd), the lowest operating rate since September last year, and a drop of 500,000 bpd from June. For the first seven months of the year, refinery runs were 11.04 million bpd, up 2.9 percent from the same period last year. While this is still a reasonable year-on-year growth rate, it does contrast with the strong 13.6 percent increase in imports of crude in the first seven months of this year, compared […]