China’s crude throughput in March is expected to ease from seven-month highs seen in February, as refiners embark on a much-delayed maintenance spree after postponing them last year in the wake of COVID-19, a move that could put downward pressure on oil products availability. Receive daily email alerts, subscriber notes & personalize your experience. Register Now About 50 million mt/year of refining capacity at six state-owned refineries — five from Sinopec and one from CNOOC — is expected to be shut over the March-April period, while May could also witness some maintenance, albeit at a relatively lower capacity level, latest industry data and information collected by S&P Global Platts showed. As the heavy maintenance season kicks in, the March run rate is expected to ease from a seven-month high of 82.8% in February. This could help ease the pressure on product export for some of Sinopec’s […]