Published: 9/15/2023 5:51 AM ET
Oil prices rose on Friday and were on track for a third consecutive week of gains on news that Chinese refiners broke refining rate records in August.
Benchmark Brent crude futures edged up 0.2 percent to $93.94 a barrel, while WTI crude futures were up 0.3 percent at $90.44.
Both benchmarks traded at their highest level since early-November 2022 on optimism about improved demand and consumption in China and expectations for a draw in global supply for the remainder of the year.
Total refinery throughput in China was a record 64.69 million metric tons last month, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed, up 19.6 percent from the year-ago period and marking the fastest annual growth since March 2021.
Additionally, China’s aviation regulator said today that air passenger numbers in August nearly doubled from a year earlier, reaching a historical high of 63.96 million.
China announced a cut to banks’ reserve requirement ratio and the latest industrial output and retail sales growth figures for August topped forecasts, raising optimism that the country is on a path of recovery after months of feeble growth.
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