17-06-08 China Petrochemical Corp (Sinopec), Asia's largest oil refiner, has started production at its new Qingdao refinery in eastern China, despite expecting to lose money from the plant.
The refinery, which uses mostly Saudi crude oil, is designed with a processing capacity of 10 mm tpy, the largest of its kind in China.

The CNY 12.5-bn ($ 1.8 bn) plant is expected to produce 7.08 mm tons of refined oil each year with annual sales exceeding CNY 40 bn. This would help ease the domestic fuel shortage and ensure supplies for the summer grain harvest, quake relief and Olympic Games in the world's second-biggest oil consuming country, according to the report.
However, the refinery was expected to lose money once it started operation because of the widening gap between the government-set prices of oil products and rocketing crude oil prices on the global market, the report said.