BEIJING - China Petroleum and Chemical Corp or Sinopec Corp's diesel stocks?surged 93 percent from late?2010 to a record high, Reuters reported on Monday.

The?biggest refiner in Asia said in a release on?Feb 13?that its February crude runs would be 2.4 percent higher than in January, when runs were up 3.7 percent from December, in order to churn out more diesel to supply drought-hit provinces, the report said.

Sinopec would process some 17.4 million tons (4.5 million barrels)?of?crude oil?a day, the report cited a company official as saying.

The rate stood 6.5 percent higher than the refiner's November operation level, it said.

In addition,?a Reuters poll showed that China's top 12 refineries would increase February crude runs by 1.4 percent from January to 2.95 million barrels?a day, the highest since December.

The country's inventories of gasoline, diesel and kerosene at the end of December increased 8.7 percent from a month earlier, the second rise in a row after eight months of drawdowns, the report said, citing?a Xinhua newsletter.