Chinese refineries’ run rates increase as turnarounds end

25 May 2012 08:15  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--The operating rates of major Chinese refineries averaged 86.3% on 24 May, up by 4.77 percentage points from two weeks ago, as turnarounds ended at some facilities, according to C1 Energy, an ICIS service in China.

PetroChina’s Daqing Petrochemical restarted its 120,000 bbl/day refinery in northeast China on 23 May after shutting it for a turnaround on 15 April.  

PetroChina’s Dushanzi Petrochemical restarted its 10m tonne/year crude distillate unit (CDU) in northwest China on 10-14 May.

Sinopec’s Zhenhai Refining & Chemical (ZRCC) resumed operations at its 9m tonne/year crude distillation unit (CDU) and some secondary processing units at Zhejiang province in east China on 11 May after shutting it on 11 April for maintenance.

Other refineries such as Sinopec’s Yanshan Petrochemical recorded stable run rates of 78%.

The operating rates are expected to decline in early June as Sinopec will shut some of its refineries for turnarounds, market sources said.

The refinery operating rate is an average of 35 big refineries that have a combined capacity of 7.26m bbl/day, accounting for 72% of China’s total capacity of major refineries.

Higher refinery operating rates tend to decrease feedstock costs for China's chemical plants, which in turn may choose to increase their own production rates.

By: Amy Sun
+65 6780 4359

For the latest chemical news, data and analysis that directly impacts your business sign up for a free trial to ICIS news - the breaking online news service for the global chemical industry.

Get the facts and analysis behind the headlines from our market leading weekly magazine: sign up to a free trial to ICIS Chemical Business.

Printer Friendly