OREANDA-NEWS. September 22, 2014. China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) and OAO Rosneft have signed an agreement for the extension of strategic cooperation on the Tianjin joint venture refinery project in northern China.

The companies are expected to make an investment decision regarding the Tianjin Refinery construction in March 2016, which would position the refinery to be ready for commissioning by yearend 2019, Rosneft said.

The companies previously signed an agreement to move forward with construction of the Tianjin refinery in May (OGJ Online, May 20, 2014).

The Vostok Petrochemicals joint venture initially was formed between Rosneft (49%) and CNPC (51%) in 2010, when the companies signed off on preparation of a feasibility study for the Tianjin refinery’s construction.

The proposed refinery, for which the feasibility study still is under way, would have a crude oil processing capacity of 16 million tonnes/year, according to Rosneft.