Sinopec boosts Luoyang refinery capacity

Sinopec has effectively increased crude refining capacity at its Luoyang refinery in Henan Province by a quarter to 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 160,000 bpd after the recent addition of a diesel hydrotreating unit, the top Chinese refiner said. China will likely add more than 3 million bpd of new refining capacity between 2010 and 2015, industry officials and Chinese media have said, in a new refinery building boom to fuel its robust economic growth. The expansion pace, some half a million bpd on an annual average, does not look huge compared with China’s annual incremental oil demand growth, but some market analysts have argued that China may already have a structural surplus of gasoline and diesel fuel. (October 21, 2010)