Highlights Independent refineries attracted by heavily discounted Urals Prices are still above Beijing’s expectations to replenish SPRs Run rates at independent refiners recover as margins improve Hefty discounts on Russian crude are increasingly whetting the appetite of China’s independent refineries, but Beijing may not rush into shipping in plentiful cargoes from the non-OPEC supplier at current prices for strategic petroleum reserves, analysts said. Receive daily email alerts, subscriber notes & personalize your experience. Register Now China’s SPR stock stood at 325.71 million barrels as of May to account for 67% of the state crude reserve storage capacity that Kpler monitors. That was 6.12 million barrels lower than the historical high of 341.83 million barrels in June 2020, Kpler’s data showed. “China won’t be violating rules by building SPR stocks with cheap Russian crudes,” said a Beijing-based official with a state-owned trading house. However, overall global crude prices were still […]