SINGAPORE (Reuters) – China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, or Sinopec Corp, said on Friday it processed 2.03% less crude oil in 2024 versus 2023 and its diesel output tumbled 10.27% over the previous year.
The data, which Sinopec said is unaudited, mirrored a fall in the country’s overall refinery throughput last year for the first time in more than two decades barring the pandemic-hit year of 2022 amid a sputtering economy, stagnant fuel demand and dampened margins.
The refining giant processed 252.3 million metric tons of crude oil in 2024, or about 5.05 million barrels per day, down from 257.52 million tons in 2023, Sinopec said in a filing to the Shanghai stock exchange.
Production of diesel was 57.91 million tons, down a tenth from 2023, while that of gasoline and jet kerosene rose 2.6% and 8.6% respectively.
Analysts believe that Chinese consumption of gasoline, diesel and kerosene combined may have peaked in 2023 as electrification of vehicle fleets displace gasoline and a prolonged property sector downturn and replacement by cheaper natural gas cuts into diesel use.
Chemical feedstock, such as naphtha, fell 5.8%, Sinopec said.
Output of ethylene, a key building block for petrochemicals from plastics to synthetic fibre, decreased 5.9% at 13.47 million tons.
The company’s oil and gas production rose 2.2% last year tot 515.25 million barrels of oil equivalent, with the growth contributed mostly by natural gas.
(metric ton = 7.3 barrels of crude oil)
(Reporting by Chen Aizhu; Editing by Kim Coghill)
