GreenergyDaily

May. 20, 2026

Chinese state refiners have cut crude processing by more than one million barrels per day since the outbreak of the Iran war.

Chinese state refiners are processing 8.4 million barrels per day of crude this month, down from 8.6 million bpd in April and 9.5 million bpd ⁠in March, according to consultancy Energy Aspects, compared with about 10 million bpd before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran at the end of February.

Chinese research firm Horizon Insights expects throughput for state refiners to fall to 8.35 million bpd in May, down from 8.61 million bpd in April and 10.17 million bpd before the conflict began, based on its data.

Sinopec brought forward maintenance at two refineries, Yangzi Petrochemical and Hainan Petrochemical, to May and July, respectively, from the fourth quarter, Reuters reported, citing four trade sources familiar with the matter. The refineries combined can process more than 400,000 bpd of crude.

The world's largest refiner has also sharply cut crude loadings from Saudi Arabia in May amid high prices, and does not plan to ⁠load any Saudi cargo in June, trade sources said.