Petroleum coke output may hit a new high in the third quarter

The maintenance peak has passed, and petroleum coke output may reach a new high in the third quarter.

As we all know, the first half of each year is the peak season for Chinese refinery units maintenance, and this year is no exception. Although there are relatively few equipment to be inspected in major domestic refineries in 2022, the maintenance peak of local refineries has come. Graphite electrode produced from petroleum coke can conduct current and generate electricity, and is mainly used for making steel. Especially from April to May, the domestic local refining delayed the centralized maintenance of coking units, resulting in a sharp decline in the output of petroleum coke, which brought many benefits to the market. The third quarter has entered the last month. How about the domestic supply of petroleum coke?

Data shows that in the first quarter of 2022, the capacity utilization rate of delayed coking units in domestic refineries was 66.2%, down 0.314 percentage points year-on-year; In the second quarter, the capacity utilization rate of delayed coking units in domestic refineries was 61.31%, down 2.4 percentage points year-on-year; In the first two months of the third quarter, the capacity utilization rate of delayed coking units in domestic refineries was 67.9%, up 5.69 percentage points year-on-year. Figure 1 shows that in the third quarter, the capacity utilization rate of domestic delayed coking units was obviously at a high level.

Data shows that the domestic petroleum coke production from January to August was 18.1 million tons, basically equal to that of last year. However, in terms of supply distribution, the output in January 2022, July 2022 and August 2022 increased year-on-year, while the output in other months declined. In particular, the output increased significantly from July to August, with a growth rate of 6.06-7.86% year-on-year.However, since the end of August, some of the delayed coking units have been reduced or stopped production. In addition, the delayed coking units of some main refineries have also been repaired, which will have a certain impact on the domestic petroleum coke output. However, Shenghong Refinery's 2 million ton/year delayed coking units and Keyu Petrochemical's 1.3 million ton/year delayed coking units may start production this month, therefore, the domestic petroleum coke production is expected to remain high in September.

The domestic petroleum coke output in the third quarter may be about 7.2 million tons, which is not only higher than that in the first half of the year, but also expected to reach the highest level in the same period in four years. Of course, although the total amount of domestic petroleum coke increased in the third quarter, the quality of crude oil processed by domestic refineries in the third quarter was not optimistic, leading to a serious decline in the petroleum coke index. Therefore, the market still shows an uneven distribution of indexes.

Data show that in 2022, domestic petroleum coke is still dominated by 4#, accounting for 40%; 5# petroleum coke accounted for 8%; Projectile coke accounted for 5%. The production of sponge coke and shot coke with sulfur content above 3% accounted for 53%, an increase of 5 percentage points year-on-year. Therefore, domestic petroleum coke is still dominated by medium and high sulfur indexes, and the output of medium and low sulfur petroleum coke has declined significantly this year.

In conclusion, in 2022, the requirements for petroleum coke indexes in the downstream areas of petroleum coke increased, but the actual domestic petroleum coke indexes obviously tended to be highly sulfurized, resulting in the mismatch of upstream and downstream resources. The domestic medium and low sulfur petroleum coke market is still expected to obtain strong support, and whether the price of high sulfur petroleum coke can rise should focus on indexes. Contact us to learn more about petroleum coke market.