Better Financial Performance of Petroleum & Chemical Industries in October


China’s petroleum and chemical industries registered sound financial performance in October. Exports maintained fast growth, but investments remained weak. The import market was under greater pressure. The benefit prospect of oil industry is still weak.
Main business revenue of the petroleum and chemical industries amounted to RMB11.86 trillion in January-October, up 16.5% YoY, and the growth was 0.2 percentage points faster than that in January-July, occupying 11.9% of main income among national-scale industries.
Core business revenue of the chemical industry was RMB8.03 trillion, up 14.9% YoY, 0.4 percentage points more than the January-September average, while that of the oil refining industry totaled RMB2.79 trillion, up 21.9% YoY, 0.6 percentage points faster than the January-September average. Core business revenue of the oil and gas exploration industry totaled RMB741.33 billion, up 19.3% YoY, which was 1.2 percentage points lower than the January-September average.
The combined business climate index of the oil and gas industry was largely stable in October, while that of the chemical industry fell. According to China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, the business climate index of China’s chemical sector was 91.31 in October, down 1.49 points from September, while that of the oil and gas sector was 95.40, down 0.26 points from September.
China’s crude oil and natural gas output in January-August totaled 269 million tons (oil equivalent), up 1.1% YoY, 0.5 percentage points higher than the January-September period. Domestic output of major chemicals rose 2.8%, 0.1 percentage points more than the January-September average.
Decrease range of crude oil production narrowed down, while increase range of natural gas expanded. China produced 16.006 million tons of crude oil in October, down 0.4% YoY, 2.5 percentage points less than July. Domestic natural gas output was 12.41 billion cubic meters (including CMB), up 15.4% YoY, which marked a record high in 2017. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) output reached 842 000 tons, up 24.0% YoY. Crude oil processed during the month amounted to 50.510 million tons, up 7.4% YoY. The output of finished oil products (gasoline, coal and diesel) totaled 31.940 million tons, (up 4.6% YoY), including 16.442 million tons of diesel (up 4.4% YoY) and 11.661 million tons of gasoline (up 3.7% YoY).
The increase of other main chemicals was stable. Domestic ethylene output reached 1.605 million tons in October, up 8.5% YoY; methanol, 3.730 million tons, up 4.5%; coatings, 1.759 million tons, up 0.6%; chemical reagents, 1.700 million tons, down 3.3%; vitriol, 7.600 million tons, up 1.2%; caustic soda, 2.789 million tons, down 1.7%; calcium carbide, 2.082 million tons, up 0.4%; synthetic resins, 7.313 million tons, up 0.8%; synthetic fibre monomer, 3.792 million tons, up 7.8%; and cover tyre, 79.507 million tons, up 5.5%.
Apparent consumption of crude oil and natural gas totaled 664 billion tons (oil equivalent), up 8.2% YoY, the speed of which ranked a new high in 5 years, 0.3 percentage points more than the January-September average. Apparent consumption of main chemicals rose 5.1%, the same as January-September average.