CNOOC To Start Huizhou Refinery 2nd Phase Construction 09 Executive
01/07/09 SHANGHAI -(Dow Jones)- China National Offshore Oil Corp. will start construction of the second phase of its massive Huizhou refinery this year, despite the uncertain outlook for oil product demand, a company executive in charge of media relations said Wednesday.
Construction on the CNY45 billion ($6.58 billion) second phase, with a planned annual refining capacity of 10 million metric tons, or 200,000 barrels per day, will start this year as scheduled as part of the company’s drive to develop from an offshore oil producer into an integrated oil company, a Cnooc executive in charge of media relations said.
Completion of the second phase is now slated for 2011, said the official, who asked for anonymity.
Construction of the first phase of the Huizhou refinery, Cnooc’s first wholly- owned refining project, located in the southern province of Guangdong, was completed at the end of last year with an annual crude processing capacity of 12 million tons, or 240,000 barrels per day, he said.
The first phase is likely to come online officially before March, although the timing remains uncertain, he said. Operation of the refinery, which was originally scheduled for September last year, has been pushed back a couple of times, mainly due to equipment delivery delays resulting from severe weather last year, he said.
“First it was the snow blast at the beginning of 2008 and then heavy rainfalls in summer, which prompted equipment suppliers to delay delivery,” the official said.
Cnooc will feed the refinery’s first phase mostly with heavy oil produced from the northern Bohai field, he said. Cnooc is China’s third-largest oil company by assets, and is the parent company of the Hong Kong-listed oil producer Cnooc Ltd. (CEO).
-Jing Yang contributed to this story, Dow Jones Newswires; (8621) 6120 1200; jing.yang@dowjones.com
