The China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) has confirmed that it is to spend around $6.6 billion on doubling the capacity of one of its major refineries.

Originally, the Huizhou plant, located in the Guangdong province in the south of the country, was expected to produce approximately 12 million tonnes of oil a year when it comes on line this autumn, official figures from the country's third-largest producer show.

However, with consumer demand continuing to rise across China, plans have now been put forward to increase this to 22 million tonnes by 2015.

According to one source quoted in the China Daily: "The Huizhou project will further increase the energy supply in the Pearl River Delta (in Guangdong), one of China's economic powerhouses."

At the same time, CNOOC is also working with Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell over plans for a new joint petrochemical venture project, also in Huizhou as legislation preventing suppliers from passing on cost rises to consumers have prompted it to look to increase production rates.

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