Surging refinery capacity creates tempest in a teapot

Huang Haidong missed the flush times in 2010 when his refinery in eastern China could not produce diesel fast enough to fill the trucks lined up outside.

"There was a fuel shortage," said Huang, who works as a supply manager at one of 40 "teapots", or small, privately held plants, in Shandong province.

"We ran our units at more than 80 percent (of processing capacity) at that time and still couldn't meet demand. But things changed after the expansion frenzy."