Sinopec’s refineries are expected to process a combined 227m tonnes of crude in 2012, up by 3.8% from the actual throughput in 2011, according to a source from one petrochemical company underlying Sinopec.
The volume accounted for about 86% of the total crude processing capacity of the refineries.
The oil major will add 14.1m tonnes of refining capacity in 2012, up by 5.3% from the previous year, C1 research showed.
Most new refining projects will be put into production in the second half of the year.
Sinopec may have a total of 60m-70m tonnes/year of refining capacity in turnarounds in 2012.
Sinopec Beihai Petrochemical, which will become operational at the end of 2011, is expected to process 4.5m tonnes of crude in 2012. Crude throughput of the refinery may become the main growth point for Sinopec's crude runs in the year, market sources said.
Those refineries with no turnaround plans in 2012 will run at high rates.
Sinopec recorded 219m tonnes of crude throughput in 2011, about 1.3% lower than scheduled because of the delayed operation of the newly-built 5m tonne/year Beihai refinery.
