China may extend refining run cuts in June amid tight supply, low demand in General Energy News 03/06/2026 Chinese refineries are likely to extend the downtrend in crude throughput in June due to reduced feedstock supply, low oil products demand and high domestic inventories, analysts and refinery sources told Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, May 29. A Singapore-based analyst with an international oil company expected China’s crude throughput to fall below 13 million barrels/day in June, continuing a decline from a 44-month low of 13.35 million b/d in April. Platts data showed that 49 of China’s state-owned refineries had an average run rate of 71.6% in May, a 74-month low since 70.4% in March 2020, when the country was hit by the coronavirus pandemic. The utilization was at a 43-month low of 75.6% in April. The four private mega-refining complexes’ average run rate also fell by nine percentage points from April to 70% in May, according to Platts data. Cuts in June A South China-based source with a state-run refinery said they have “significantly” reduced crude buying or resold the cargoes for June delivery to avoid inventory devaluation on their interim financial results. The move is a hedge against the risk that prices could fall amid uncertainties surrounding the Middle East war, the source said. The refinery will shut a 100,000 b/d plant in June to save feedstock consumption and run the other 200,000 b/d plant at 88% of capacity, according to the source. China’s lower imports will result in throughput reductions in June, a second refining source said, adding that his refinery will cut throughput to 164,000 b/d in June from about 203,000 b/d in May. State-run refiners will draw on crude inventories built in previous months and their high product stocks are expected to sustain domestic demand, the second source said. A Sinopec refinery in east China cut its May crude throughput to 267,000 b/d, 28,000 b/d below the initial plan, and will reduce runs further t