China’s petroleum and chemical industry developed stably in the first quarter of 2019. In detail, operating revenue was up 4.6% YoY to RMB2.94 trillion in the first quarter, while combined profits were down 21.9% YoY to RMB159.05 billion. By sectors classified by the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, the chemical sector achieved RMB1.71 trillion (up 4% YoY) in operating revenue, and the refining sector saw a growth of 3.8% YoY to RMB936.29 billion. The revenue was up 8.8% YoY to RMB242.35 billion in the petroleum and natural gas exploration and production sector.

Among segments under the chemical sector, the chemical pesticide segment saw the highest revenue growth of 12.1% YoY, followed by the synthetic materials segment (9.1%), the coatings (pigment) segment (5.4%), and the chemical mining segment (4.6%). The revenue was up 2% YoY in the basic chemical raw materials manufacturing segment, lower than 2.7% in the specialty chemicals segment. As for others, it was up 1.1% YoY in the rubber product segment, and up 1.7% YoY in the fertilizer segment.

Combined output of crude oil and natural gas was up 4.4% YoY to 86.93 million tons in the first quarter, and that of major chemicals was up 4.1% YoY. In detail, crude oil output was up 0.6% YoY to 47.35 million tons, natural gas output was up 9.4% YoY to 43.98 billion cubic meters, and LNG output was up 29.2% YoY to 2.34 million tons. China processed 155 million tons (up 4.4% YoY) of crude oil during the first three months, and produced 89.39 million tons (down 0.3% YoY) of oil products (gasoline, kerosene and diesel). More specifically, output of diesel was down 5.8% YoY to 41.34 million tons, while that of gasoline was up 4.6% YoY to 35.86 million tons, and that of kerosene was up 6.1% YoY to 12.19 million tons.

Ethylene output was up 8.4% YoY to 5.06 million tons in the first quarter, while pure benzene output was down 2.8% YoY to 2.08 million tons. Methanol output was up 1.5% YoY to 12.01 million tons, coatings output was up 7.3% YoY to 3.86 million tons, and chemical regent output was up 12.9% YoY to 4.02 million tons. As for others, sulfuric acid output was up 5% YoY to 21.38 million tons, caustic soda output was up 3.5% YoY to 9.1 million tons, and calcium carbide output was up 3.4% YoY to 6.69 million tons. Output of polycrystalline silicon was down 1.2% YoY to 80 000 tons, that of synthetic resin was up 6.5% YoY to 22.14 million tons, that of synthetic fiber monomer (polymer) was up 5.8% YoY to 12.76 million tons, and that of cover tyres was down 4.3% YoY to 187 million pcs.

The import and export value of the domestic petroleum and chemical industry was up 3.3% YoY to US$174.02 billion in the first quarter (US$60.83 bn in March), with export value up 5.7% YoY to US$54.23 billion and import value up 2.3% YoY to US$119.79 billion (US$20.84 bn and US$39.99 bn in March).

Operating revenue for 2019 of the petroleum and chemical industry is forecast to be up 10% YoY (chemical sector, up 9% YoY), annual profits to be basically the same as last year, and import and export value to be up 8% YoY. Annual apparent consumption of crude oil is forecast to be up 5% YoY, and that of natural gas to be up 12% YoY. Annual consumption of oil products is forecast to be up 2% YoY, with diesel consumption to be down 1% YoY. Annual consumption of chemical fertilizers may be slightly down compared with last year, that of synthetic resin is forecast to be up 7% YoY, that of ethylene to be up 8%, and that of caustic soda to be up 6% YoY.