PetroChina to double refining capacity by 2020

PetroChina Co, China's biggest oil producer, plans to increase its share of the domestic oil refining market to 45 percent by 2020 as demand for fuels and chemicals rises.

The state-controlled oil company will more than double annual refining capacity to 300 million tons by 2020, about 6 million barrels a day, Vice President Shen Diancheng said at a conference in Beijing Tuesday.

PetroChina currently accounts for about 40 percent of the nation's oil refining.

PetroChina's refining capacity will reach 165 million tons by 2010, about 40 percent of the nation's total, from about 140 million tons last year, Shen said. PetroChina plans to have six 10-million-ton-a-year refineries by 2010 and 18 such plants by 2020.

China will have to double refining capacity by 2020 to meet demand for gasoline and diesel in the world's fastest-growing economy.