PetroChina resumes gas production in Sichuan

16 May 2008 08:40  [Source: ICIS news]

SHANGHAI (ICIS news)--Energy major PetroChina has resumed a third of its production capacity at its 6m cubic metres/day gas field in earthquake-hit Sichuan province, company chairman Jiang Jiemin said.

 

Originally shutdown after Monday’s disaster, whose epicentre hit the province and had led to the deaths of up to 50,000 people, the gas field was now producing 2m cubic metres/day of natural gas and 16 of the producer’s 76 drilling rigs were running, he said late on Thursday.

 

Meanwhile, 78 of the company’s 728 petrol stations in the affected southwestern region were shut down due to damage caused in the earthquake, he said.

 

No PetroChina employees were killed in the quake, though six were still missing and 56 workers were injured, said Jiang.

 

The company is also considering scrapping construction of an 800,000 tonne/year ethylene plant, costing yuan (CNY) 20bn ($2.9bn), in Chengdu, Sichuan province, if studies conclude the site is prone to natural disaster. The proposed area for the plant is 60km from the epicentre of the quake.

 

On Thursday, PetroChina subsidiary Nanchong restarted a crude distillation unit (CDU) at its refinery in Sichuan and units producing solvent oil, base oils and paraffin would resume soon, a company source said.

 

($1 = CNY7)

By: Judith Wang
+65 6780 4359

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