PetroChina Dalian Refinery Exports First RON 97 Gasoline Cargo

By Winnie Zhu

March 12 (Bloomberg) -- PetroChina Co.’s biggest refinery, in northern China’s Dalian city, exported RON 97 gasoline for the first time after domestic consumption dropped.

The plant shipped 34,000 metric tons, or one cargo, of RON 97 unleaded gasoline to Singapore this month, parent China National Petroleum Corp. said in a statement on its Web site today. The fuel’s quality was adjusted to meet overseas requirements, it said.

PetroChina, the nation’s second-largest oil refiner, typically exports RON 92 or RON 93 gasoline. China National said Feb. 12. Dalian processed 1.07 million tons, or about 250,000 barrels a day, of crude in January.

The refinery’s annual capacity was almost doubled to 20.5 million tons before the Beijing Olympics, China National said in August last year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Winnie Zhu in Shanghai at wzhu4@bloomberg.net