BEIJING/SINGAPORE: China will cap its crude oil refining capacity at 1 billion metric tons by 2025 to streamline its vast oil processing sector and cap carbon emissions, the country’s state planning agency affirmed in an online posting on Wednesday.

China, the world’s top crude oil buyer, increased its oil refining capacity to 920 million tonnes per year, or 18.4 million barrels per day (bpd), in 2022, overtaking the United States as the world’s largest oil processor.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said it would limit new refining capacity, promote the upgrading and optimisation of refineries, and accelerate the closure of small and outdated plants, according a posting on its website that was dated Oct. 10.

The notice affirms a capacity cap of one billion tons, or 20 million barrels per day (bpd), that was first mentioned in October 2021, when Beijing announced an action plan for reaching peak carbon emissions by 2030.

The Wednesday posting, however, lays out more details on the curbs for the refining sector.

Refineries with an annual capacity of 10 million metric tons or more will account for 55% of processing facilities by 2025, the notice said, while any new refineries will have to have capacities of at least 10 million tons a year.

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China will also promote energy efficiency and better carbon emission management in the refining industry, it said.

Authorities will audit key facilities to look at production capacities, crude oil sources and energy efficiency levels, and will build a national information database on the sector, the NDRC said.

Smaller oil processing facilities that often claim to be bitumen producers or are used to process heavy oil and chemicals will be banned, the planner said.

New refineries will also be sited close to or integrated with petrochemical facilities making products such as ethylene and paraxylene. “(New) refining capacity shall be further optimised in terms of regional planning to promote an orderly integration between refineries and petrochemical hubs,” the NDRC said.