State-controlled PetroChina's 400,000 b/d Jieyang refinery in southern China's Guangdong province delivered its first cargo of oil products to the market earlier in February.
A shipment of oil products, possibly fuel oil, headed for the destination in south China — its main target market, the refiner said. Jieyang also produced qualified ethylene at its new 1.2mn t/yr integrated ethylene cracker this week, beginning a period of full trial runs, information on the company's website shows.
Jieyang could have produced 25,000 b/d of on-specification gasoline and 45,000 b/d of on-specification diesel last month. The refinery planned to process around 290,000 b/d of crude in February with over 110,000 b/d of gasoline and diesel, but the eventual volume could be lower because of some issues at the unit, according to market sources.
Jieyang started construction in 2018, equipped with a 2mn bl VLCC berth and an oil terminal with a 780,000 bl oil product berth. The new refinery is looking at a market with weak domestic margins for petrochemicals. The coming peak turnaround period in March could support margins to some extent. But the planned maintenance at state-controlled CNOOC's 440,000 b/d Huizhou refinery in March could be delayed for the upcoming two annual meetings of China's main political bodies in March, possibly because of exploration accidents at Liaoning independent refiner Bora and state-controlled Sinopec's Shanghai refinery during maintenance, market sources say.
Sinopec's Hainan has also started more units at its 1mn t/yr cracker in February. Shenghong's 320,000 b/d Lianyungang refinery started to deliver oil products from the end of last year, and has sold over 90,000 bl of gasoline to a state-controlled refiner on 13 February.
