Chinese refiners to feel the squeeze

China’s crude refining throughput is set to decline quarter-on-quarter in Q1 2022, amid mounting pressure from multiple fronts

China’s crude runs slowed in the first two months of this year, particularly in the northeast of the country, where the government’s desire for clean air during the Winter Olympics has led to a pause on emission-intensive industrial activities, including refining. Some refineries—mostly independent operators in the eastern province of Shandong—started to reduce activity in January. Crude runs in Shandong had dipped below two-thirds of provincial capacity by the second half of the month. But the Olympics have forced deeper cuts, with the biggest impact falling on state-owned refineries in the Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei regions, where state-controlled firms CNPC, Sinopec and Cnooc operate clos