Chinese state-owned refiners’ operating rates remained low in the first half of June, because of more refinery extended refinery maintenance, JLC data shows. This lull comes on the heels of a record breaking spring, in which Chinese refineries returned to record-high processing rates last month driven by the so-called teapots. The operating rates averaged 74.90% on June 15, down by 1.86 percentage points from the end of May. PetroChina Liaoyang Petrochemical in northeast China’s Liaoning province began a turnaround at its 180,000 bbl/day refinery on June 1, expecting to restart the refinery on July 10, according to a source from the company. In addition, PetroChina Harbin Petrochemical in northeast China’s Heilongjiang province started an overhaul at its 100,000 bbl/day refinery on June 12 and planned to complete maintenance on July 31, a source from the company said. PetroChina Urumchi Petrochemical and Jinzhou Petrochemical are still carrying out maintenance that […]