CNPC upgrades Daqing refinery

China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), China’s largest energy producer, has completed upgrading at its refining complex in Daqing, raising its crude-oil processing capacity to 10 million metric tons a year, or about 200,000 barrels a day. The improvements cost CNY1 billion (US$157.6 million) and involved the construction of a new crude distillation unit and modification of an existing crude oil distillation unit (CDU). The complex’s new capacity will allow it to help meet feedstock demand for an ethylene unit with a capacity to produce 1.2 million tons a year. When fully operational after the upgrade, the refinery will be the first in Daqing to be able to process Russian crude oil. (August 31, 2012)