Sinopec Completes $1 bln Refinery Expansion

Sinopec Corp said it has completed expansion works at a refinery in eastern China by adding a 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) crude unit, and plans to raise throughput in the fourth quarter.

The Sinopec Jiujiang refinery, located in Jiangxi province, is expected to process 20 percent more crude oil in the fourth quarter, it said in a report posted on the group's website.

The report did not say if the 20 percent increase was a comparison with the third quarter or with the same period a year earlier. A company spokesman said he was making checks on the extent of the increase.

The expansion was largely on schedule as Sinopec had earlier flagged that it would be completed in September.

In addition to the 100,000 bpd crude distillation unit, new facilities at the plant included a 1.7 million tonne-per-year residue fuel hydrotreating unit and a 2.4 million tpy hydrocracking unit, designed to produce higher grade fuels.

Sinopec spent 930 million yuan on environmental facilities, or 13.8 percent of total spent, said the report, which would make the total investment around 6.7 billion yuan ($1.05 billion).

Sinopec plans to spend another 440 million yuan to make national five grade diesel, a quality standard similar to Euro V, by end of August next year, the report said. ($1 = 6.3577 Chinese yuan)

Reporting by Chen Aizhu