Chinese refineries processed 6.5 percent more crude oil in August than a year earlier at 47.12 million tonnes, or about 11.1 million barrels per day, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Thursday. August processing also rose from July's 10.71 million bpd, which was the lowest in 10 months.

The higher runs came as independent plants rushed to boost output with newly granted quotas and as a greenfield state refinery raised production after test operations. For the first eight months of the year, refinery output was up 3.4 percent from the same period a year ago at 367.94 million tonnes, or 11.05 million bpd.

Independent plants rushed to purchase crude oil after receiving a new batch of crude oil quotas from late June. PetroChina's 260,000 bpd refinery in southwestern Yunnan also contributed to higher throughput after test runs started in end-June. Thursday's data also showed China's domestic crude oil output fell 3.1 percent last month from a year ago to 15.96 million tonnes, or 3.76 million bpd. Output during the January-August period was down 4.6 from a year earlier, but the decline has since late 2016 narrowed sharply as positive cash flows encouraged dominant state oil firms to expand productions.

Copyright Reuters, 2017