C1 Energy (Guangzhou) – Mar 11, 2010---Teapot refineries in South China's Guangdong province run at 27% of capacity on average Thursday, steeply up 15 percentage points from one week ago, shows C1's survey. The run rate is above the average level, in comparison with last year's record high of 46%.
Three teapot refineries resumed operation over past one week, pushing up daily throughput of local teapots to 9,300mt from week ago's 5,300mt.
As C1 reported on Wednesday, refining margins of these refineries averaged about minus Yuan 40/mt, after speculative demand for off-spec gasoil increased over Sinopec and PetroChina's joint efforts in lifting oil product prices.
The room for a rise in the near-term operating rates is limited, due to feedstock shortage, said sources with some teapot refineries.
