PetroChina sees growing share of refining capacity

BEIJING, May 6 (Reuters) - PetroChina aims to have 160 million tonnes of annual crude processing capacity and 4.57 million tonnes of ethylene cracking capacity by 2010, its vice president said on Tuesday.

The company will account for 40 percent of China's total refining capacity by 2010, and 45 percent by 2020, as it catches up to rival domestic refining powerhouse Sinopec Corp. (0386.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)(SNP.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)(600028.SS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), he said. By 2020 it targets annual capacity of 300 million tonnes of crude oil refining, and 12 million tonnes of ethylene cracking, according to prepared remarks for a speech by Shen Diancheng.

The company's share of cracking capacity is also slated to grow, to one-third of national capacity by 2020, from 27 percent in 2010.

Last year, PetroChina (601857.SS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)(PTR.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)(0857.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) refined 122 million tonnes of crude oil, and produced 2.58 million tonnes of ethylene.

(Reporting by Jim Bai, Editing by Lucy Hornby and Ken Wills)