China's Ministry of Environmental Protection has lifted a ban on approvals for new refinery projects and upgrades proposed by state-owned companies PetroChina and Sinopec, the ministry announced in a notice posted on its website Wednesday.
It said that the suspension of approvals, which was implemented in September last year, had been lifted with immediate effect because both companies had invested capital and achieved a reduction in emissions of four major pollutants last year compared with 2012 and managed to meet the targets set by the ministry. The notice, dated April 18, did not provide further details.
In late August last year, the MEP said Sinopec had failed to meet its target to cut nitrogen oxide emissions in 2012 while PetroChina did not meet its targeted cut in chemical oxygen demand, which is commonly used as an indirect measure of the amount of pollution in water.
The ministry then suspended approvals for both companies' new refinery projects, refinery upgrades and modifications. However, exemptions were made for their refinery projects which involved energy conservation or upgrading of fuel standards.
In a statement on Wednesday, Sinopec said it had fully achieved its emissions reductions targets last year, reducing ammonia emissions by 3.8% year on year, sulfur dioxide emissions by 9.4%, nitrogen oxide emissions by 4.8% and its COD by 3.2%.
The company said it has invested Yuan 22.9 billion ($3.7 billion) in environmental protection to date, involving some 803 projects. It poured Yuan 3.3 billion of investment into 167 environmental protection initiatives last year, and plans to spend Yuan 13.8 billion this year on a further 472 projects, Sinopec said.
Approval from the environmental protection ministry is one of many stages in getting a refinery project off the ground. Operators also need to get the nod from the local government, while final approval lies with the National Development and Reform Commission. The central government has set increasingly stricter standards for emissions in the last few years as it seeks to battle chronic pollution.
Its official target is to cut carbon emissions by 17% over the 12th Five Year Plan period from 2011 to 2015.
