IN BRIEF (Page 14)

Refinery shakeup

China plans to shut more small-scale oil refineries and outdated metal smelters by 2011 to boost efficiency and lower pollution.

Refineries with an annual capacity of less than 1 million tons, or 20,000 barrels a day, would be closed and the government will actively guide plants that can process 1 million to 2 million tons a year to cease operations or merge, the National Development and Reform Commission, said in a statement.