Govt halts power giant approval

The Ministry of Environmental Protection has suspended approval of refinery and chemical projects for two Chinese oil and gas giants as a punitive measure for their failure to meet emission reduction targets.

The ministry said Thursday that an annual evaluation of all provincial regions and eight centrally administrated State-owned enterprises found the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and the China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) respectively failed to meet the emission reduction target of chemical oxygen demand and nitrogen oxide in 2012.

Officials had ordered CNPC to cut its emissions of chemical oxygen demand by 0.6 percent compared with a year earlier. However, such emissions only diminished by 0.08 percent in 2012. The nitrogen oxide emissions of Sinopec surged 1.28 percent, failing to meet the target of zero growth.

An unnamed official with the ministry slammed Sinopec and CNPC, respectively ranked No.4 and No.5 on the Fortune Global 500 this year, for lagging behind the average emission reduction rate, the People's Daily reported.

The paper also quoted the official as saying that the pair's seven overseas oil refinery subsidiaries are among the most advanced in the world in terms of emission reduction.

As punishment, the ministry has suspended environmental approval for new refining and chemical projects as well as the renovation and expansion of existing projects. However, energy-saving projects and projects concerning the upgrading of oil products are excluded.

Yang Fuqiang, a senior advisor with the Natural Resources Defense Council, told the Global Times that the punishment would serve as a deterrent, given that the country now faces great challenges in meeting its reduction target set for the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15). "Failing to meet targets will affect their global performance, as their foreign competitors may label them as not caring about environmental impact," Yang warned, adding that the two should be role models.

LüDapeng, spokesperson for Sinopec, told the Global Times that the company accepts the results. "We will further increase our investment in environmental protection and help related subsidiaries to speed up the rectification.

While admitting some projects would be affected, he said Sinopec is "confident" that they will finish the rectification in a very short period.

"Most of its 120-plus subsidiaries actively reduced their emissions in 2012, however several subsidiaries in Luoyang, Shanghai and Chongqing lagged behind due to their outdated facilities," Lüsaid.

However, he denied reports that Sinopec's overseas subsidiaries adopt higher standards, saying no overseas subsidiary has been put into use and the new domestic ones adopted the highest standard for emission.

The CNPC said it has paid great attention to the ministry's results, adding that it will put all efforts into realizing the emission reduction target set for the five-year plan.