China, the world's second-biggest energy user, plans to increase crude oil refining capacity by 24 percent within three years as fuel demand rises, China Petrochemical Corp said.

The nation's oil refineries will be able to process 460 million metric tons of crude a year by 2010, about 9.2 million barrels a day, compared with 370.8 million tons last year, Sun Yongsheng, deputy chief engineer at the Economic and Technology Research Institute at Sinopec Group, said in Chengdu yesterday.

Sinopec Group, China National Petroleum Corp and their units are adding refinery capacity to supply an economy that grew 10.6 percent in the first three months, the ninth consecutive quarter of double-digit expansion.

China's 2008 oil demand will rise 4.7 percent to 7.9 million barrels a day, the International Energy Agency said in an April 11 forecast.

Refining capacity will reach 425 million tons this year, Sun said at a conference in southern China's Sichuan province.

China's increased prosperity is fueling car sales in the second-largest auto market. Sales rose 20 percent in the first three months of this year to 1.85 million vehicles, boosting demand for diesel and gasoline.

As car numbers grow, the Chinese government wants to implement stricter fuels standards to cut emissions of polluting gases in the world's fastest-growing major economy, Bloomberg News reported.

Sinopec Group unit China Petroleum & Chemical Corp plans to spend about 20 billion yuan (US$2.9 billion) in the three years to 2009 to upgrade refineries to produce higher quality fuels, Yang Yuanyi, deputy chief engineer for the company's science and technology program, said in November.

The quality of China's gasoline and diesel will meet the China III fuel standard, similar to Euro III, by 2010, Sun said.

Fuels distributed in Shanghai and Guangzhou will meet the China IV standard by then, he said.

Sinopec supplies about 80 percent of the fuel sold in China.

The nation started enforcing stricter China IV standards in Beijing earlier this year.

(Shanghai Daily April 25, 2008)