OIL refineries in China ramped up throughput in June to the second highest on record, with some independent plants raising output even as State oil majors prepare to take drastic steps to cut production during the peak summer season.

Throughput last month reached 46.08 million tons, or 11.21 million barrels per day (bpd), a 2.3-percent rise year on year and up from May’s 10.98 million bpd, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed yesterday.

That was just shy of December’s record volume of 11.26 million bpd. The higher throughput came after another month of strong crude oil imports and as top refineries prepared to cut output in the third quarter.

“Refinery runs were impressive considering that refinery maintenance was still heavy,” said Nevyn Nah, analyst at Energy Aspects.

Independent refiners, known as “teapots,” raised their runs after receiving additional crude import quotas, while oil majors kept their throughput roughly flat year on year, he said.

For the first six months, refinery production in the world’s second-largest fuel consumer gained 3 percent from a year earlier to 275.21 million tons, or about 11.1 million bpd.

Upcoming cuts to production by the oil majors will not be as deep as many in the market expect, added Nah, because the planned cuts were from very high levels in the first quarter.

The NBS data yesterday also showed domestic crude oil output fell 2.3 percent last month versus a year ago to 16.21 million tons, or 3.94 million bpd, but up from May’s 3.83 million bpd.

Output during the January-June period was down 5.1 percent from a year ago at about 3.89 million bpd.

Declines in China’s crude oil output have slowed as major oil producers raised spending to boost production as oil prices stabilized in a US$48-US$55 per barrel range, and analysts have forecast flat or positive production growth for calendar 2017.

Natural gas output climbed 14.6 percent in June from a year earlier to 11.5 billion cubic meters (bcm), but marked the lowest level since October.