Sinopec launches new crude distillation unit

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, known as Sinopec, started a new crude distillation unit at its Maoming refinery this month, bringing the facility's capacity to more than 20 million metric tons a year.

China is expected to increase its annual oil-processing capacity to 578 million tons, or 11.6 million barrels a day, by the end of this year, and 700 million tons by 2015, according to a report issued in February by China National Petroleum Corp, the nation's biggest energy producer.