Asia Oil Refiners Cut Run Rates, Mull Closures as Costs Soar
- Chinese teapots have reduced activity by 10-20%, FGE says
- Merchant processors in Singapore, Taiwan, S. Korea vulnerable
This article is for subscribers only.
Asian oil refiners — from Chinese teapots to processors in Singapore and South Korea — are either cutting run rates or considering it as the impact of US sanctions on Russia ripple through the market.
Independent Chinese refiners in Shandong province are the hardest-hit after Washington’s strictest package of measures targeting Moscow crippled flows of their favored ESPO grade from the Pacific port of Kozmino. In other parts of Asia, so-called merchant processors, which are more dependent on fuel exports due to their small domestic markets, are also looking to cut activity as physical crude and freight costs soar.