Sinopec's Jinling refinery to run at record levels this month

China's Jinling refinery will boost crude throughput by a third this month to a record high of 245,000 barrels per day, thanks to a new secondary unit and fresh naphtha demand, an industry source said yesterday.

China's third-largest refinery, a unit of Sinopec Corp, will run at 91 per cent of its recently expanded capacity, well above a low 181,000-bpd rate in March.

"The refinery has increased its runs because it can keep the costs of processing imported high-sulphur crude low with its high-pressure hydro-treaters," the source said.

Imported high-sulphur crude was about $6 a barrel cheaper than foreign low-sulphur grades, the source said.

Jinling upgraded its crude processing capacity to 270,000 bpd late last year and has since brought onstream secondary units to take full advantage of the extra crude distillation, allowing it to run a higher proportion of cheaper sour crude.

Jinling is expected to raise average crude runs by 14 per cent over this year to 220,000 bpd due to the expanded capacity, industry sources have said.

The refinery's two hydro-treating units, with a total capacity of 2.7 million tonnes per year (tpy), allow it to produce more lighter products such as jet-kerosene and gas oil from heavier materials such as residual fuel.

"There are also refinery maintenance works in the northeastern part of China and for that reason, Jinling would keep its runs at high levels in April. The refinery's production must be in line with domestic demand," the source said.