NDRC approves CNPC's Chad JV refinery

China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said that it has approved China National Petroleum Corp.’s (CNPC) joint venture refining project in Chad, Cameroon in West Africa. CNPC and the Chad state oil company respectively own a 60% and 40% stake. The joint venture refinery is designed to have a processing capacity of one million metric tons per year. Located north of N’Djamena, the capital of Chad, the refinery can produce around 700,000 tons of gasoline and diesel fuel, as well as 20,000 tons of kerosene annually. The refinery, which is already under construction, is expected to start operations in 2011. (September 8, 2010)