Energy

Sinopec to shut Luoyang plant in Sept for maintenance

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-03-12 17:30

China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec), the nation's biggest fuel supplier, plans to shut its 160,000- barrel-a-day refinery in Luoyang city in Central China in September for maintenance, said the head of the plant, Bloomberg reported Saturday.

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The refinery in Henan province will be shut 45 days and the chemical units will also be closed during the period, and the plant will stockpile fuel ahead of the maintenance so that it's able to ensure market supply during that period, the report said according to Wei Wenbo, president of Luoyang refinery, as saying

The plant's oil processing volume will drop to no less than 7 million tons, or 140,000 barrels a day, this year, from 7.58 million tons last year, reducing sales to at least 40 billion yuan ($6.1 billion) from 45.5 billion yuan a year earlier, according to Wei.

Sinopec may more than double the plant's refining capacity to more than 18 million tons by 2020 after the central Chinese province's oil-product demand rose to 10 million tons last year, Wei said.