PetroChina's Dalian refinery boosts Phase 5 gasoline output

The Dalian refinery in China’s Liaoning province, owned by Dalian Petrochemical, a subsidiary of PetroChina, has announced a new 1 million metric ton (mt) a year gasoline etherification unit which went online on May 28. The overall capacity is 20.5 million mt/year, or 411,685 barrels per day (bpd). The new unit allows the refinery to boost production of Phase 5 standard gasoline.
The unit, which produces high-quality ethers to be blended with gasoline, came online a month ahead of schedule.
The Dalian refinery can now produce 4 million mt/year of Phase 5 gasoline, making it China’s largest producer of the product, PetroChina said on its website. The refinery will be able to supply Phase 5 gasoline to Beijing, Shanghai and other cities, it added.
There has been significant government pressure on Chinese refiners to upgrade their fuel specifications to curb chronic pollution. The State Council, or Cabinet, announced in February 2013 that it would introduce Phase 5 emission standards for gasoline and diesel fuel across the country by 2017 while the Phase 4 standard would be implemented by next year. Some cities, including Beijing, have already started to adopt cleaner fuel specifications ahead of the national deadline.
China’s emissions standards are broadly equivalent to Euro emissions standards. China’s Phase 5 emissions standard caps the sulfur content at 10 ppm, while the Phase 4 standard caps the sulfur content at 50 ppm.
(May 31, 2013)