CNOOC to start up Huizhou refinery end-2008

31 March 2008 05:29  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) plans to start up its first major refinery at the end of this year and is in talks to buy several refining units in Shandong province, a company spokesman said on Monday.

These would boost CNOOC’s refining portfolio, an area where it has been lagging behind other domestic energy majors PetroChina and Sinopec.

Construction was under way at its first 12m tonne/year refinery and an aromatics unit in Daya Bay, Huizhou, Guangdong province, beside its 800,000 tonne/year joint venture cracker with Shell, CNOOC spokesman Liu Junshan said.

The company was also in talks to buy small refineries in Shandong to gain access to the eastern market, he added.

"The acquisition will be the first step. We will consider expansion or plans to move downstream in the next step," Liu said in Mandarin.

He said there was no timetable for the acquisition and declined to confirm the targets.

Local media reports said CNOOC would buy units with a total refining capacity of over 200,000 bbls/day and its targets included Fuhai Group, Kenli Petrochemical, Zhonghai Petrochemical, Haike Group and Shandong Shida Technology Group.

"We will know the total refining capacity [that we bought] only after the acquisition," Liu said.

CNOOC bought state-owned refiner Zhongjie Petrochemical in Hebei province for an undisclosed sum last year.

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By: Florence Tan
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