OREANDA-NEWS.  October 15, 2014. PetroChina has delayed a plan to double the capacity of a subsidiary refinery in northern China to 200,000 barrels per day, according to a report published by parent company CNPC, putting the upgrade about two years behind an earlier timeline.

PetroChina, China's second-largest state refiner after Sinopec Corp, has been slowing down its downstream investment plans including for refineries since last year, to focus more on oil and gas exploration and production.

Beijing's tougher environmental regulations and slow demand growth in the world's second-largest oil consumer have also contributed to the overall caution in adding new capacities.

The expansion program at Huabei Petrochemical Corp in Hebei province - which neighbours Beijing - would cost a total of 10.95 billion yuan (USD1.8 billion), according to a report carried on news.cnpc.com.cn.

The expansion is now slated for completion by the end of 2016, with the official start-up set for 2017.

In March, China's Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP)approved a 178-kilometre crude oil pipeline PetroChina plans to build to supply the Huabei refinery.

The pipeline starts at Tianjin port and has an annual carrying capacity of 140,000 bpd, according to a MEP posting.