Russia and China To Develop Joint Refinery

The first joint refinery between the two countries was planned several years ago but proceeded slowly as the world's second-largest oil user, and leading producer, failed to agree on a series of issues including pricing and mutual market opening.

The Tianjin city government has laid out a plan to complete a feasibility study and an application report by June and to get an approval from the central government by the year-end, it said in a release on its website.

The joint plant would be located in its Binhai Chemical Area and construction would be completed by 2012.

Some industry officials said the project might move along quickly as Russia, hit by slumping oil prices, agreed last month to supply 300,000-bpd of crude oil via a planned pipeline to China in the next two decades, in return for $25 billion of Chinese loans.

Source: Reuters

Author: Ksenia Kochneva