Regional Update: Asia

China

PetroChina have announced that production will commence at the newly expanded Ningxia refinery by the end of 2011. The US$ 1 billion expansion will enable the facility to process 1.67 million tpy of gasoline and 2.29 million tpy of diesel. This startup is a year after the original scheduled startup date.

PetroChina has also announced plans to construct gasoline and diesel hydrotreaters at its Lanzhou refinery. The company is constructing the units so it can begin producing cleaner fuels. These plans are currently in the preliminary stages.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) is going to expand its Wuhan city oil refinery and recommence construction of an ethylene unit at the facility. The plant’s processing capacity will be increased to 9 million tpy. Trial runs of the expanded refining facilities will begin in 2012 and the ethylene unit is expected to be online by the end of 2013.

India

According to the Indian Petroleum Ministry, the country’s domestic refiners processed 7.7% more crude in May 2010 year on year. Total production averaged at 3.252 million bpd. Of the 19 domestic refineries, two are privately owned.

Operations at the new Bina refinery, owned by Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd., started at the end of June. The refinery has the capacity to process 6 million tpy and was built at the cost of Rs 11 397. The facility started six months after the estimated startup time.

Japan

JX Holdings has stated that it plans on processing 1.2 million bpd of oil throughout July. This figure is 3% lower than 2009 and reflects the slight slow down in demand. JX’s refining subsidiary Nippon Oil & Energy Corp. will be responsible for processing these volumes.

JX Holdings have also announced that they intend on investing in the construction and operation of the two new Vietnamese refineries currently being discussed. This would be JX’s first overseas investment.

Vietnam

Vietnam Oil & Gas Group (PetroVietnam) have commented that they will begin importing up to 500 000 bpd of crude once two new oil refineries open in the country. The two new facilities are currently being discussed and are expected to be online by 2020.

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/gas-processing/08072010/regional_update_asia/