BEIJING, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Top Asian refinery Sinopec Corp has delayed the start up of its new 200,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refining plant in Tianjin to around mid-December or later, an industry official said on Friday.
The delay of the plant, the fourth major new facility to come online in China this year, could help ease the heavy surplus in Asian diesel market despite the approach of winter heating oil demand, partly due to heavy exports from China.
"Beijing wants to open as quickly as possible, but construction and equipment installations lag. Mid-December could be an optimistic target," the official, who is familiar with the plant's operations. told Reuters on Friday.
The plant, in the northern port city of Tianjin, was originally slated for start-up in September, the fourth new refinery this year after the launch of CNOOC Huizhou, Sinopec Fujian and PetroChina's Dushanzi plant. The four plants have a combined capacity of 800,000 bpd.
State refineries in China, the world's second-largest oil consumer, have been processing at near-record rates in recent months to capitalise on a fuel price mechanism that more or less guarantees a fixed profit margins, and as demand recovers with economic rebound.
Shielded by a tax incentive that gives rebates in exports, refiners shipped abroad excess barrels of diesel and gasoline, with diesel exports hitting a decade-high most of this year as domestic consumptions failed to keep in pace with record output.
The new Tianjin facility, designed to process crude oil from Saudi Arabia, is expected to process 3 million tonnes (60,000 bpd) of Saudi oil in 2010, said the official, although a final supply amount will be decided upon the conclusion of yet-to-start term negotiations.
The refinery will also be looking at similar crude supplies from Kuwait, Iraq and Iran under term pacts, the official added.
An affiliated new ethylene complex of 1 million tonnes-per-year capacity, a $3 billion joint investment with Saudi Basic Industries Corp 2010.SE, will start about the end of December, he said.
The Sinopec unit is currently operating a 110,000-bpd refinery at near-full rates, processing mostly low-sulphur crudes.
