Jinzhou Refinery (PRC) To Invest In Sulfur-Reduction Technology - Reuters

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BEIJING - China's Jinzhou refinery will invest up to 1.3 billion yuan (US$167.9 million) in an expansion plan including equipment to produce lower-sulphur diesel and gasoline by mid-2009, the plant's head said on Friday.

Lu Wenjun, general manager of the plant in northeastern Liaoning province, told Reuters he was focused on improving fuel quality because listed parent PetroChina had capped refining capacity at the current 140,000 barrels per day (bpd). Work will start this year on a 1.5 million tonnes per year (tpy) hydrotreater to produce low-sulphur gasoline and a hydrocracker of the same size focused on diesel output, part of a 1.2 billion to 1.3 billion yuan investment programme.

"They will start production between the end of 2008 and mid-2009," Lu said in an interview on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People's Congress, China's parliament, where he is a delegate.

As part of a drive to tackle smog and acid rain -- caused by sulphur dioxide and now affecting one third of the country -- China is cutting the amount of sulphur in fuels.

EDIT

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/40792/story.htm

Note: Its main feeder oil field nearby is high-sulfur, but this would also come in handy for refining other high-sulfur crudes, say, from Saudi Arabia.