Sinopec Tianjin to delay new refinery to December

Sinopec Corp. has delayed the start-up of its new 200,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery in Tianjin in Northeast China, to around mid-December or later, an industry official said. The delay of the plant, the fourth major new facility to come online in China this year, could help ease the surplus in the Asian diesel fuel market partly due to heavy exports from China. The new Tianjin facility, designed to process crude oil from Saudi Arabia, is expected to process 3 million tons of Saudi Arabian crude in 2010. (September 18, 2009)