China Procures Crude Oil To Stock, But Difficulties Loom

Chinese refineries processed 12.6 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude in the first quarter, up 4.4 %from the three months to end-December.
Crude imports in the January-March period were 9.83 million bpd, while domestic output was 3.84 million bpd, giving a total of 13.67 million bpd.
China increased the amount of crude stored by around 57,000 bpd in first quarter of 2019 from last quarter of 2018.
The cargoes that arrived in China in Jan and Feb would have been fixed at a time when crude...