PetroChina Lanzhou shuts 50,000 bpd crude unit-source

Published: 02 Nov 2009 23:17:12 PST

BEIJING, Nov 3 - PetroChina <0857.HK><601857.SS> shut down a 50,000 barrel per day (bpd) crude oil unit from mid-October at its Lanzhou refinery because of construction of a new crude unit, an industry source said on Tuesday.

"The one-month closure was to make room and time to prepare a new 110,000-bpd crude distillation facility," the source said.

As a result, Lanzhou's crude processing will fall to around 193,500 bpd in November, down 1 percent from 195,000 bpd in October and 8.7 percent lower than in September.

The new crude unit is expected to come online by the end of this year, but Lanzhou's total crude capacity may not increase by the same amount as the plant might considering mothballing some old capacity, the source added.