Page 7 - AsianOil Week 03 2021
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AsianOil SOUTH ASIA AsianOil
Barkindo, however, sought to reassure the “India’s refinery utilisation rates are also
minister that OPEC took “the interest of con- nearing full capacity and probably refiners are
suming countries in mind” when making its replenishing inventory, anticipating higher
decisions. He added: “We all agree that the recov- prices during winter,” Refinitiv analyst Ehsan
ery is fragile. But we are cautiously optimistic [it Ul Haq said. “This is the harbinger of a recov-
will] materialise this year.” ery in fuel demand and improving refining
Pradhan’s comments came as news broke that margins.”
India’s crude imports soared to a nearly three- The country’s refiners will be hoping for a
year high in December 2020. Reuters, citing data return to normal economic activity this year,
from trade sources, reported on January 19 that after government lockdowns in March saw
the country had imported more than 5mn bpd refinery runs collapse by as much as 70%.
in order to meet a rebound in demand. This rep- India’s crude imports shrank by about 10% y/y
resents about a 29% jump month on month and in 2020 to 4.04mn bpd, according to Reuters’
an 11.6% increase year on year. calculations.
EAST ASIA
China’s city-gas operators
enjoy winter rush
PERFORMANCE CHINA’S coldest winter in decades has proved be enough to meet peak winter demand, after
to be a boon for the country’s city-gas operators, it had directed the state-run majors to boost
which have seen fuel demand skyrocket. domestic production and imports.
City-gas operators saw their gas sales volume Fitch noted that the majors’ efforts to enhance
growth accelerate in both the fourth quarter of storage facilities in the wake of the 2017 win-
last year as well as in the year to date, interna- ter gas shortage meant that supply from these
tional ratings agency Fitch Ratings said in a new facilities had topped 100mn cubic metres
report published on January 20. The agency cited per day, accounting for 9.7% of total daily gas
both the country’s post-pandemic industrial consumption.
production recovery as well as strong heating The majors are also understood to have opted
needs as the principal drivers. to move some of their long-term contract deliv-
Fitch quoted the Chongqing Petroleum and eries into the winter period, while new LNG
Gas Exchange as saying that apparent gas con- terminals and pipelines have also contributed
sumption growth had accelerated from 5.9% additional supply.
in October 2020 to a low-teen percentage in
November 2020 through to January.
The spot LNG price, meanwhile, is under-
stood to have risen by more than 100% in
northern China and 60% in southern China
since November 2020. Fitch noted that prices in
Hebei, Jilin, Liaoning and Shandong Provinces
had climbed to more than CNY10,000 ($1,544)
per tonne in late December from an average of
CNY2,700 ($4,168) per tonne in June-August
2020.
The agency was upbeat about the country’s
ability to meet the surge in demand, however,
noting: “China’s gas supply pressure is lower this
winter than in 2017. As a result, we believe the
spike in gas demand can be fulfilled to a large
extent, translating into strong gas sales volume
growth for rated gas distributors.”
Top economic planner the National Develop-
ment and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in
November that the country’s gas supplies would
Week 03 21•January•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P7
