| China plans to increase its refinery capacity by 31.6 percent and more than double its ethylene production by the year 2010, the state-run China Daily reported Friday. "We will build a crude oil processing base to refine imported oil, and another base for oil from the country's domestic fields," the country's top economic policy planner said, according to the daily. The two oil refining bases, both to be located in southern China, aim to address the country's imbalanced allocation of its oil processing facilities, which are too concentrated in the northeastern and northwestern regions, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said. By 2010, China plans to add new refining facilities of at least 90 million tons, and meanwhile, to close small and inefficient plants totalling about 20 million tons in capacity to enhance efficiency. |