Notice Issued by the National Development and Reform Commission and Other Departments on Printing and Distributing the 'Special Action Plan for Energy Conservation and Carbon Reduction in the Refining Industry'

（III）Accelerating Equipment Upgrading and Energy-Saving Technology Application. Vigorously promote equipment renewal at refining enterprises, strengthen operational analysis of energy-consuming equipment, and accelerate the application of general-purpose energy-consuming equipment—such as boilers, motors, and transformers—that meet or exceed national energy-efficiency standards. Promote advanced technologies and equipment including high-efficiency fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) exhaust gas turbines, high-efficiency furnaces, air preheaters, high-efficiency heat exchangers, intermediate reboilers, heat-pump-assisted distillation, and low-temperature distillation. Promote energy-saving technologies for vacuum systems in atmospheric and vacuum distillation units; low-coke-yield technologies for FCC units; liquid-phase hydrofining for jet fuel; microchannel technology; and high-efficiency separation technologies—to reduce processing losses and improve refined product yields. Phase out all atmospheric and vacuum distillation units with capacities of 2 million tons/year or less. (Led by the National Development and Reform Commission; jointly implemented by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Energy Administration according to respective responsibilities.) （IV）Implementing Clean and Low-Carbon Energy Substitution. Steadily increase the level of electrification in refining enterprises’ energy consumption, and orderly replace steam turbine-driven systems with electric-drive systems. Regulate the operating load of captive power plants at refineries in accordance with the principle of “electricity generation determined by thermal demand,” adjusting output based on steam requirements. Newly constructed refining projects shall, in principle, not add new captive coal-fired generating units. Encourage refining enterprises to replace existing captive coal-fired units with grid-supplied electricity, centralized heat-and-power cogeneration, clean energy sources, etc., and expand green electricity consumption through green electricity and green certificate trading. Encourage large-scale petrochemical industrial parks to explore nuclear energy for steam and heat supply. Actively advance the reconstruction of refining process flows coupled with new energy systems, steadily increasing the proportion of green hydrogen used. Enhance clean transportation levels across the refining industry, and promote localized electrification upgrades for transport, handling, and operational vehicles and machinery. (Led by the National Energy Administration; jointly implemented by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment according to respective responsibilities.) （V）Promoting Cross-Sectoral Coupling for Efficiency Gains. Foster synergistic development between the refining industry and sectors such as steel, cement, new energy, and energy storage; deepen system-level integration of shared energy resources—including steam, electricity, and fuel gas—and explore novel power supply models. Vigorously promote comprehensive utilization of low-temperature waste heat from refineries; encourage upgrading thermal quality via heat pumps and mechanical vapor recompression, supplying heat to surrounding industrial enterprises and urban buildings to achieve cascaded energy use. Without adding new capacity, encourage qualified refining enterprises to explore co-processing of waste plastics, waste lubricating oils, waste cooking oils, and waste biochemical sludge alongside crude oil. (Led by the National Development and Reform Commission; jointly implemented by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and the National Energy Administration according to respective responsibilities.) （VI）Accelerating Digital Empowerment. Strengthen measurement and monitoring of energy consumption data at refining enterprises. Encourage large-scale refining enterprises to establish digital energy management centers, applying specialized technologies such as data processing, intelligent machine control, and digital twins to build integrated digital platforms managing electricity, steam, hydrogen, fuel gas, and circulating water. Encourage integrated implementation of digital energy management and carbon emission management, synchronizing collection, analysis, and management of energy-use and carbon-emission data. Accelerate construction of digital and intelligent refineries. (Jointly implemented by the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the State Administration for Market Regulation according to respective responsibilities.) III. Policy Support （I）Strengthening Incentives and Constraints. Implement policies exempting feedstock energy and non-fossil energy from total energy consumption and intensity controls, and reinforce energy conservation and carbon reduction management in the refining industry.

Controlling Capacity, Retrofitting Plants, and Transforming Oil—The Petrochemical Industry’s ‘Anti-Involution’ Is Underway

Currently, the overcapacity problem confronting China’s petrochemical industry has become systemic and highly complex—warranting urgent attention from regulatory authorities. Since 2015, apart from Shandong Province’s sustained and determined efforts under its campaign for safety production rectification and enhancement in the chemical industry—which cumulatively eliminated over 50 million tons of outdated independent refinery capacity—capacity reduction initiatives elsewhere nationwide have achieved minimal results. Meanwhile, over the past decade, a host of advanced integrated refining and petrochemical projects have been commissioned domestically, including Hengli Petrochemical, Zhejiang Petrochemical, Yulong Petrochemical, CNOOC Huizhou Refining Phase II, CNPC Jieyang Refining in Guangdong, Guangxi Qinzhou Refining, and CNOOC Daxie Petrochemical. These facilities typically boast annual capacities exceeding 12 million tons. The direct consequence is clear: outdated capacity remains largely intact while new capacity continues entering the market—resulting in continuously rising domestic refining capacity, sharply declining capacity utilization rates, and deteriorating industry profitability. Today, the sustainable development of the refining and petrochemical sector stands perilously close to a cliff edge—making continued neglect or delay untenable. China’s total refining capacity has now surpassed 1 billion tons/year—exceeding that of the United States to become the world’s largest—but capacity utilization has fallen to approximately 70%, indicating structural overcapacity exceeding 300 million tons. According to scheduling data from March 2025, capacity utilization at China’s independent refineries dropped to 58.51%; at local refineries, it fell to 59.5%; and at major state-owned refineries, it declined to 77.4%. Overall national refinery capacity utilization stood at just 70.3%. From a profitability perspective, refining and petrochemical enterprises have posted dismal financial performance over the past two years. In the first half of this year, Sinopec reported net profit of RMB 21.483 billion—a 39.8% decline year-on-year—returning to its lowest level in a decade, comparable only to the severe industrial downturn witnessed in 2015. Although newly built private-sector integrated refineries launched over the past decade operate efficiently, their profitability remains weak due to persistently depressed petrochemical product prices and heavy capital expenditures. Against the backdrop of acute overcapacity, no enterprise can remain immune. Overcapacity extends beyond refining alone: major bulk petrochemical products—once chronically undersupplied in China, such as olefins and aromatics—have now also reached saturation and surplus. By end-2024, China’s polyolefin annual capacity stood at 78 million tons, with output at 62.25 million tons—implying overcapacity exceeding 10 million tons. In 2024, China’s PTA capacity reached 86.015 million tons, while output totaled 71.8 million tons—again indicating nearly 10 million tons of overcapacity. Looking ahead, there appears little prospect of a structural reversal in overcapacity anytime soon. Over the past decade, China’s electric vehicle (EV) sector has experienced explosive growth: as of end-June 2025, China’s EV fleet totaled 36.89 million units—accounting for 10.27% of all motor vehicles—with pure-electric vehicles numbering 25.539 million, representing 69.23% of the total EV fleet. As EVs continue rapid expansion, demand for fuel oil is contracting. Strict control over total refining and petrochemical capacity has thus become an inevitable trend. In response to petrochemical overcapacity, five departments—including the National Development and Reform Commission—issued the ‘Special Action Plan for Energy Conservation and Carbon Reduction in the Refining Industry’ in June 2024. It mandates compressing crude oil primary processing capacity to within 1 billion tons/year by the end of 2025, and eliminating capacity whose energy efficiency falls below baseline levels—accounting for as much as 15% of total capacity.

Vivo Energy Converting Durban Refinery Into Fuel Storage Hub

Apr 14, 2026

Vivo Energy plans a $130-million fuel storage expansion at a former Durban refinery, adding 300,000 cubic meters capacity by 2027 to reduce South Africa's reliance on fuel imports amid regional refining shutdowns.

bloomberg

2026-04-14

Vivo Energy Converting Durban Refinery Into Fuel Storage Hub

Vivo Energy Converting Durban Refinery Into Fuel Storage Hub

FAQ