Sinopec, a Chinese state-run company, has begun the filling of crude oil into a new storage facility in the central province of Henan to gain easier supply access for its northern Chinese refineries.
The company has accelerated its injections of crude to the storage as early in August, it has started pumping Saudi Arab Medium crude into the 5 million barrels tank farm in Luoyang. As of last week, the tank had received over 220,000 barrels of crude with a sulfur content of up to 2.5%.
As part of Sinopec's major infrastructure investment program in central China, the Luoyang refinery was expanded to escalate the refinery’s access to cheaper, low-sulfur crude. It also has been through upgrades with a cost of CNY4.5 billion (USD650 million) and is being connected to a 360,000 bpd crude pipeline from Rizhao port in Shandong.
The company is also targeting an expansion of Luoyang’s storage capacity in a second phase, by 5 million barrels. It is estimated to be finished by mid-2021.
