Asia-Pacific to Lead Oil Refinery Additions until 2017

With a total of 24 planned oil refineries, Asia-Pacific is expected to contribute 40% of global capacity additions over the next five years, states the latest report from energy experts GlobalData (UK).

The firm’s latest report expects China alone to install nine new refineries by the end of 2017, with 2,211 thousand barrels per day (mbd) in total Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) capacity additions during the 2012-2017 period – the most of any country in the world and almost double that of the second greatest contributor, Saudi Arabia, with a total of 1,201 mbd in additions during the same timescale.

Chinese National Oil Companies (NOCs) PetroChina and Sinopec will be responsible for most of the country’s additions in the near future. Sinopec plans to build two new refineries in China, one in the coastal city of Lianyungang with an initial capacity target of 240 mbd and the other in Zhanjiang with expected crude processing capacity of 300 mbd.

PetroChina aims to install five new-build refineries between 2012 and 2017 across locations such as Sichuan and Yunnan.

India is predicted to place a relatively distant second in the region’s CDU capacity additions, with 803 mbd over the next five years, while Indonesia is forecast third with a total of 319 mbd.

By region, GlobalData’s report predicts the Middle East and Africa to follow Asia-Pacific closely with 37% of the global additions for 2012-2017, leaving Europe and the America’s combined total at just 23%.