The vice governor of Liaoning province in northeastern China, at the annual national parliament conference (NPC), asked the central government to shut down Dalian Petrochemical Corp, one of the country’s oldest refineries. The 410,000-bpd plant is owned by China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) and is the company’s largest facility which processes Russia’s East Siberia Pacific Ocean blend crude imported through a pipeline.
The refinery is located less than 10 kilometres from Dalian city in the province. It has stoked safety and pollution concerns and had several major accidents, including a fire in 2017, an explosion in 2013, and oil spill in 2010. After the 2017 accident, Beijing pledged to move all small and medium chemical plants to special zones and away from urban areas by 2020. Meanwhile, larger plants are set to be relocated by 2025.
In 2018, the industrial ministry and state planner issued a petrochemical industry layout, revealing that CNPC’s Dalian facility would be relocated to Changxing island. However, no updates have been disclosed regarding the relocation plant ever since.
