Page 10 - AsianOil Week 47

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China’s gasoline exports set new record in October
PERFORMANCE
CHINA’S gasoline exports climbed more than 166% year on year in October to 1.73mn tonnes, according to General Administration of Cus- toms (GAC) data.
The October figure, up from 1.67mn tonnes recorded in September, was a new record for the country. However, the figure’s pace of growth is somewhat distorted by the fact that exports in October 2018 contracted 33% y/y to their lowest level in 13 months amid a regional supply glut.
While gasoline shipments soared last month, diesel exports slid to 1.19mn tonnes from 1.44mn tonnes in the same month of 2018 and from 1.48mn tonnes in September.
China’s refiners processed 13.62mn bar- rels per day of crude oil October, up from the 12.28mn bpd processed in the same month of 2018. However, crude runs were slightly less than the 13.75mn bpd record set in September.
Run rates in November are likely to show yearly gains despite slowing domestic oil prod- uct demand, S&P Global Platts reported this
week, citing a survey of state-owned and private refiners.
The news service said average run rates at state-run Sinopec, PetroChina and China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) fell from a seven-year high of 85.7% in October to 83.4% last month. It added that run rates at the coun- try’s two largest independent refineries – run by Hengli Petrochemical and Zhejiang Petroleum & Chemical (ZPC) – were stable month on month from October.
However, both companies launched 400,000 bpd refineries this year and Platts said this, cou- pled with PetroChina’s commissioning of an expansion at Huabei Petrochemical, would see run rates rise from the 12.33mn bpd recorded in November 2018.
China’s imported 10.72mn bpd of crude in October, up 11.5% y/y and also setting a new monthly record, according to the GAC data. Liq- uefied natural gas (LNG) imports, meanwhile, con- tracted by 11.5% on the year to 4.04mn tonnes.™
OCEANIA
IEEFA calls for Australian oil and gas tax reforms
POLICY
AUSTRALIA’S oil and gas royalty and tax system needs to be overhauled to ensure that oil and gas companies are paying their fair share, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Finan- cial Analysis (IEEFA).
The institute made its case this week to a Senate inquiry into Australia’s oil and gas reserves, citing Australian Taxation Office (ATO) data showing that the oil and gas industry paid just A$81mn ($54.9mn) in tax in financial year 2016-2017. By comparison,
Australian telecommunications provider Telstra paid A$1.6bn ($1.08bn) in the same period.
IEEFA argued the government needs to replace the current Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT) with a 12.5% royalty system. In June, the Queensland State government hiked its petroleum royalty taxes from 10% to 12.5%, with the government saying at the time that the industry needed to pay its share.
According to analysis commissioned by IEEFA, the Inpex-led Ichthys LNG project is
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 47 27•November•2019