SINGAPORE (Reuters) -China’s Luoyang Petrochemical, a subsidiary refinery of state refining giant Sinopec, has closed its two crude oil units for maintenance until the end of November, three sources familiar with the matter said.
Both crude units, which have a total processing capacity of 200,000 barrels a day, were shut around the end of October, two of the sources said.
The shutdown came after the U.S. sanctioned a key terminal in eastern China in early October through which Sinopec receives a fifth of its crude oil imports, forcing cargo diversions and affecting operations at subsidiary plants connected with the terminal via pipelines.
The Luoyang refinery, in central Henan province, was among the most affected, traders have said.
Sinopec likely took the chance to shut these units down for maintenance while finding ways to sort out crude deliveries to the plant, two of the three sources said.
Sinopec did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Trixie Yap and Chen Aizhu; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)
