China will raise its crude
oil processing capacity by 20% over the next five years to an average of 12
million barrels a day in 2015, supporting the country's strong appetite for
crude imports.
Crude oil processing capacity will reach 600 million metric tons in 2015, the
state-controlled Xinhua news agency reported Thursday, citing National Energy
Administration Director Zhang Guobao. Capacity was at 500 million tons in 2010.
Though the planned growth rate will be slower than the 54% rise in the five
years to 2010, China
will remain the driving force behind growth in global oil demand, analysts
said.
Zhang also told a national energy conference that the country's oil product
output will reach 310 million tons a year by 2015, Xinhua reported.
China
imported around 218 million tons of crude oil in the first eleven months of
last year, up 20% from the same period of 2009.