Sinopec Qilu plans May, Aug crude unit repairs

BEIJING, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Sinopec Corp's (0386.HK) Qilu refinery in east China's Shandong province has tentatively laid down plans to turn around two crude facilities next year, an industry source said on Monday.

Under the plans, a 70,000 barrel per day crude unit is set for 20 days' repairs around May, and another 80,000 bpd crude facility for a one-month shutdown in August, the source close to the plant's operations told Reuters.

The maintenance will cut the refinery's throughput for 2008 by about 4 percent versus this year, to around 202,000 bpd, the source said.

"It's a maintenance year for the plant," said the source.

Chinese state refineries normally set tentative turnaround dates at the beginning of a new calendar year, but these dates are subject to last-minute changes according to refining margins or market supply situations.

Around September and October of this year, some plants carried out unusually heavy maintenance to avoid deepening losses as the global crude oil price surged above $90 a barrel, leading to a serious fuel shortage in the world's second-largest oil market. (Reporting by Chen Aizhu; Editing by Edmund Klamann)