PetroChina Co, the nation's biggest oil producer, is poised to
increase crude oil refining volume by nearly 12 percent this year,
according to its senior officials.
The company is expected to process some 120 million tons of oil
this year, the company's vice-president Liu Hongbin told reporters
at an exhibition for gas station equipment, new technologies and
non-fuel operations in Beijing yesterday. The refining volume would
reach 2.4 million barrels a day.
The estimate is also higher than a March forecast, which
predicted the refining volume would reach 2.25 million barrels a
day in 2007. The company processed 2.15 million barrels of oil a
day last year.
China's crude oil output in October totaled 15.81 million tons,
up 1.9 percent year-on-year, according to the latest figures from
the National Bureau of Statistics.
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the
country's top economic planner, earlier this month increased the
prices of major oil products by 8 percent to encourage loss-making
refiners to step up production and reduce shortages.
The revision was made to reduce the gap between soaring global
crude prices and domestic fuel prices, the NDRC said.
Wang Xiaochuan, deputy director with the commerce ministry's
commercial reform and development department, encouraged gas
stations to improve their business in non-fuel sectors at
yesterday's exhibition.
Non-fuel sectors, such as vehicle maintenance and convenience
stores are expected to become a new profit source of domestic
businesses, he said.
A series of forums on the development of gas stations in China
will also be staged during the three-day expo.
(China Daily November 16, 2007)
