China Continues To Tap Crude Reserves Despite Plunge In Refining Activity

The world’s largest oil importer, China, is estimated to have drawn some crude from its oil reserves in July, although its refining throughput fell to the lowest level in over a year, Reuters columnist Clyde Russell has estimated based on official Chinese data. Last month, China is likely to have used 223,700 barrels per day (bpd) of its crude inventories, Russell calculates in an estimate of China’s crude imports plus domestic crude oil production, minus the refinery throughput. The estimates showed that Chinese oil refinery throughput…