China's Sinopec Starts up Refining unit in Iran's Arak Plant

Sinopec Engineering Inc. (SEI), an arm of Sinopec Group, started up a unit this week in Iran's Arak refinery.

SEI started a feedstock hydrotreating facility, part of a reforming unit, on Aug. 15, the company said on its website www.sei.com.cn.

A reforming unit produces mostly gasoline.

Iran aims to add 70,000 barrels per day of gasoline-making capacity around 2011/12 at the Arak refinery in the central Iranian province of Markazi.

The Chinese firm's main investment in Iran is a $2 billion deal to develop the Yadavaran oilfield, agreed in late 2007.

Sinopec Corp , Sinopec Group's listed arm, is Asia's largest refiner and buys over half a million barrels of crude oil from Iran a year, making it the world's largest Iranian oil buyer.

From January this year, Sinopec started importing condensate from Iran under a one-year deal. The deal to import the super light crude oil from the South Pars project is worth some $3 billion a year.

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