Refining

In China, refineries are mainly located in the northern and eastern coastal areas, as illustrated in the figure below (Geographical distribution of China’s major refiners and refining capacity). 64% of local refineries or independent refineries are based in Shandong province, 14% in Liaoning province and the remaining 22% spread in Guangdong, Hebei, Zhejiang, Ningxia and Jiangsu.

In 2017, China’s refining capacity reached approximately 14.5 million barrels/day. This increased to 17.2 million barrels/day at the end of 2019. Refining capacity is expected to further increase and to have reached 17.7 million barrels/day by the end of 2020.

In 2019, the average running capacity of China’s refineries was 76%, well below the global average of 80-85%.

In Shandong, Sinopec and PetroChina acco