PetroChina Set To Shut Top North China Refinery Next Year

PetroChina is set to shut its largest domestic oil refinery around mid-2025, sources said, marking the country’s first major closure at a state-run plant.

Dalian represents 3% of China’s refinery capacity, and the closure should impact the country’s world-leading crude imports. I Photo: PetroChina

The closure is part of a long-planned project to replace it with a smaller facility at a new site, Chen Aizhu and Trixie Sher Li Yap reported for Reuters.

The company will shut the remaining portion of the Dalian Petrochemical plant, which has a total capacity of 410,000 barrels per day (bpd), in the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian, said five sources with knowledge of the matter.

PetroChina had previously closed about 210,000 bpd of capacity beginning in October 2023, according to the sources, who declined to be named as the matter is not public.

Dalian represents 3% of China’s refinery capacity, and the closure should impact the country’s world-leading crude imports.

The move follows refiners' struggles with overcapacity and weakened fuel demand due to slowing economic growth and the electrification of the country’s car fleet. The closures also align with Beijing’s policy to cap the size of the industry to curb greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and manage industry overcapacity.