BEIJING, Nov. 5, 2009 (Xinhua News Agency) -- Sinopec (NYSE:SNP) Corp. (SNP.NYSE; 0386.HK; 600028.SH), China's largest refiner, would see its refining capacity annually add 12 million tons within the following three years, according to Wang Tianpu, president of Sinopec.

Wang said the company would upgrade its Shanghai Petrochemical, Yangzi Petrochemical, Jinlin Petrochemical, Anqing Petrochemical, Shijiangzhuang Petrochemical, Maoming Petrochemical, and Changling Petrochemical.

The company plans to process 205 million tons or 4.1 million barrels per day of crude oil next year.

Wang also showed that Sinopec's refining capacity by the end of this year would reach 200 million tons per year or four million barrels per day, a conservative estimate as it is flat with the company's 2008 forecast.

But the 200 million tons/year refining capacity is about 20 percent more than the 1.66 million tons/year achieved by the yearend of 2007.

Market hearsay goes that China's government has approved a new plan to boost China's refining capacity by 40 percent to 11 million barrels per day through upgrades rather than constructing new refineries, in a bid to realize self-dependency under an annual 5 to 6 percent growth of oil products demand.

The Chinese government previously set in its stimulus plan for the petrochemical industry a refining target of 8.8 million barrels per day before 2011.