Independents face fght on two fronts

摘要

China’s independent refners are facing fresh challenges as the Shandong local government promotes a new mega-refnery intended to supplant them while the central government issues tax demands. The Shandong province government has begun raising funds for its proposed Yulong mega-refnery, despite concerns about the project’s viability. It issued a 2bn yuan ($294mn) special bond — a form of of-balance sheet borrowing — in May and another Yn4bn bond in August to help fund Yulong, a 400,000 b/d integrated refning and petrochemical project. And the province is pursuing an aggressive timeframe for Yulong as part of China’s post-pandemic construction programme, wanting work to kick of this year and fnish by 2025.