China North Industries Group Co, the nation's largest arms manufacturer, will start operations at a 20-billion-yuan (US$2.9 billion) refining and chemical complex in June 2009 to tap rising domestic demand for energy.
Unit Liaoning Huajin Chemicals Corp is building a refinery with a capacity of five million metric tons a year and tripling an ethylene plant to a capacity of 450,000 tons annually, Zhang Hongwei, assistant sales director of the chemical unit, said yesterday.
Beijing-based China North Industries joins other refiners in boosting the country's oil processing capacity to benefit from higher energy demand and a possible easing in government fuel price controls, said Bloomberg News.
China North Industries, whose businesses include vehicle manufacturing and real estate development, will refine mainly crude imported from the Middle East under a weapons-for-oil program. The refinery, in northern Liaoning Province, will focus on supplying naphtha to the ethylene plant, Zhang said.
The refinery will also produce two million tons of diesel and 300,000 tons of jet fuel a year, he said. "We will look at the market situation when deciding whether to export, or sell diesel and jet fuel domestically."