PetroChina sets sights on 45% market share

PetroChina, the nation's biggest oil producer, plans to increase its share of the domestic oil refining market to 45 percent by 2020 as demand for fuels and chemicals rises.

The State-controlled oil company will more than double annual refining capacity to 300 million tons by 2020, about 6 million barrels a day, Vice-President Shen Diancheng said yesterday. PetroChina currently accounts for about 40 percent of the nation's oil refining.

PetroChina and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, or Sinopec, Asia's largest refiner, are boosting chemical production to supply manufacturers in the world's fastest growing economy. Rising wealth is driving increased sales of cars and pushing up consumption of gasoline and diesel. China will have to double refining capacity by 2020 to meet demand, Shen said.