Chinese refineries returned to record-high processing rates last month driven by the so-called teapots, which added a substantial amount of new refining capacity. According to Reuters , the average daily throughput in April stood at 12.68 million barrels, up 5 percent from a year earlier. For the January to April period, the average was 12.62 million bpd, up 4.7 percent on the year. In January this year, CNPC, the country’s largest oil company, said it expected 12.68 million bpd to be the average processing rate for local refineries this year as a whole. This is an interesting development given that this year, the initial round of independent refiner quotas were lower, as the local market sinks in a glut of fuels and the regional market begins to feel the margin squeeze of cheap Chinese fuel exports. Fuel production margins are not what they used to be, and yet independent […]