BEIJING - China's crude
oil imports reached 37.13 million tons in the
first quarter of 2006, up 25.3% year-on-year,
despite international oil prices approaching
historic highs.
The country's GDP growth,
which registered 10.2% (annualized) in the first
quarter, has boosted domestic fuel demand. But the
slight increase of domestic crude production could
not satisfy the
rapid increase in throughput
of domestic refineries; this was the main reason
leading to the surge of crude imports in first
quarter.
In the period, upward adjustments
in oil product prices still failed to alleviate
domestic refineries' losses, and diesel fuel
remained undersupplied in the domestic market.
Also, rising demand for naphtha is
inducing refineries to expand their naphtha
production, the result of which is that the
proportion of naphtha production will rise in the
national production structure, now dominated by
gasoline and diesel.
It has emerged that
if CNOOC's Huizhou ethylene project were put into
operation, China would become a net naphtha
importer.
Dependence on crude imports
reached 48% in the first quarter. China's crude
imports increased by 3.6% in first quarter, while
domestic crude production grew by only 1.7%
year-on-year. In March, crude oil production
surpassed 25 million tons of monthly production
for the first time, but the daily average was
lower than that in February.
Crude imports
registered 12.73 million tons in March against
11.17 million tons in February, surging by 11%
over that in March 2005. In January, crude imports
topped 13.23 million tons, marking a historic
monthly high. As a result, crude imports in the
first three months added up to 37.13 million tons,
up 25.3% year-on-year, accounting for 48% of the
crude oil used in the period, while the proportion
in the same period of last year was 40%.
In the first quarter of this year, net
crude imports reached 35.39 million tons. Although
gasoline and naphtha exports kept on rising in the
period, a jet fuel import surge just offset the
export and made the net oil product imports
increase by 1% to 4.963 million tons.
The
imports of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), wax,
petroleum coke, asphalt and other oil products
experienced a big decline in the first quarter.
Overall, net oil imports, including crude
oil and other oil products, registered 41.97
million tons in first quarter, increasing by 20.8%
compared with the same period 2005. China's net
oil imports stood at 143.6 million tons in 2005,
dropping by 43% over 2004. However, net oil
imports are likely to resurge in 2006, estimated
at more than 160 million tons.
