BEIJING - In order to
meet the challenge of opening up its oil product market
to the outside world, China's oil refining and chemical
industry now must focus on solving four major problems,
say experts.
First, the growth in oil refining
and chemical production capacity is not fully suited to
the fast-growing market demand. A structural
contradiction exists in the supply of and demand for oil
products, with the ratio of production of diesel oil to
petrol lower than the ratio of demand, and LNG and fuel
oil comprising a chunk of imports.
Second,
restrained by resources, the production of domestic oil
and gas has slowed, with the shortage of oil for
chemical use becoming increasingly pronounced.
Third, the market share of home-made
petrochemical products will be affected by low-duty
import products in future.
Fourth, the
production of clean fuel and environment-friendly
petrochemicals will add investment and cost pressure on
producers.
In an attempt to sharpen the
competitive edge of China's oil refining and
petrochemical industries and raise their overall
capacity, the country has placed greater efforts on
structural readjustment and technological renovation. As
a result, the industrial structure and production
distribution has improved remarkably.
Statistics
illustrate that China now owns seven, 10 million-ton
refining plants, has built a batch of large petroleum
and chemical production bases like Daqing, Jinshan,
Yangtze and Yanshan, and formed 100,000-ton and
200,000-ton oil wharf groups with oil tanks having a
total capacity of 38.9 million cubic meters.
(Asia Pulse/XIC)
Oct 1, 2004
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