Stable Financial Performance of Petroleum & Chemical Industries in May

China’s petroleum and chemical industries registered sound financial performance in May, with bigger profits industry-wide. Domestic output of oil, gas and major chemicals generally remained normal. Supply and demand were balanced. The ongoing increase in product prices slowed down. Exporters logged rapid growth.
Main business revenue of the chemical industry amounted to RMB4 020 billion in May, up 16.6% YoY, but growth was 0.4 percentage points lower than the average of January-April. Core business revenue of the oil refining industry totaled RMB1 360 billion, up 23.5% YoY, 0.5 percentage points less than the January-April average, while that of the oil and gas exploration industry totaled RMB360.57 billion, up 28.5% YoY, which was 2.7 percentage points lower than the January-April average.  
The industries’ combined business climate index dropped in May. According to China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, the business climate index of China’s chemical sector was 95.75 in May, up 0.20 points from April, while that of the oil and gas sector was 99.34, down 4.04 points from April.
China’s crude oil and natural gas output in January-May totaled 137 million tons (oil equivalent), down 0.9% YoY.
China produced 16.263 million tons of crude oil in May, down 3.7% YoY. Domestic natural gas output was 11.99 billion cubic meters (including CMB), up 10.5% YoY. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) output totaled 721 000 tons, up 23.7% YoY. Processed crude oil  amounted to 46.621 million tons, up 5.4% YoY. The output of finished oil products (gasoline, coal and diesel) totaled 29.668 million tons (up 4.1% YoY), including 15.149 million tons of diesel (up 3.7% YoY) and 11.135 million tons of gasoline (up 5.2% YoY).
Production of other major chemicals was largely stable in May. Ethylene output reached 1.481 million tons, down 2.0% YoY; methanol, 3.614 million tons, up 6.3%; and synthetic resins, 7.114 million tons, up 1.7%.
Foreign trade of China’s petroleum and chemical industries maintained fast growth in May. The industries’ import and export value reached US$48.57 billion in May (up 20.1% YoY), including US$16.5 billion of export value (up 10.7% YoY) and US$32.07 billion of import value (up 25.5% YoY), according to customs data. In the January-May months, the industries’ combined import-export value rose 26.5% YoY to US$233.45 billion, accounting for 14.9% of the domestic total. The industries’ export value was US$73.69 billion in January-May, up 9.9% YoY, 8.6% of the domestic total, while import value was US$159.76 billion, up 36% YoY and accounting for 22.5% of the domestic total. China’s national trade deficit for January-May totaled US$86.07 billion, up 70.6% YoY.