PetroChina to close last unit of biggest north China refinery end-June, sources say

SINGAPORE: PetroChina is set to close the last remaining crude unit at its biggest north China refinery at the end of this month, broadly in line with an earlier plan that marks the country’s first full closure of a state-run plant, four industry sources said.

PetroChina will switch off the 200,000-barrels-per-day No.1 crude unit at Dalian Petrochemical Corp on June 30, and the secondary processing units in the following month, said the sources familiar with the shutdown plan.

Reuters reported last October that PetroChina intended to close the whole 410,000-bpd Dalian plant by mid-2025, part of the state oil major’s long-mooted project to relocate and replace it with a smaller facility at a new site.

PetroChina will meanwhile start drawing down inventory of crude oil and other feedstocks this month and clean up all the products’ inventory by the end of August, said two of the sources.

A company representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

For the proposed new refinery complex to be built in Changxing island, about two hours’ drive from downtown Dalian, PetroChina has yet to make a final investment decision, sources said.

PetroChina began the shutdown process at the Dalian plant in late 2023.

The refinery, which accounts for nearly 3% of China’s national refining capacity, processes mainly Russian ESPO blend crude from Siberian fields.