May 19 -- PetroChina Co. has resumed fuel distribution in areas worst-hit by the earthquake in Sichuan as the rescue effort continues. China released fuels from its reserves and diverted supplies to airports near the quake zone.
Eight filling stations near the temblor's epicenter in the southwestern province had resumed operations by yesterday, parent China National Petroleum Corp. said. The oil producer has sent 16 tank trucks and 5 fuel tankers to bolster supplies as demand for diesel to fuel power generators surges.
PetroChina and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., the nation's biggest oil companies, are restoring fuel supplies to support the rescue operation prompted by the deadliest quake to strike the country in 32 years. The military is using planes, trucks and boats to transport more than 113,000 soldiers, 115 medical teams and 78,000 metric tons of supplies to the area.
The May 12 earthquake injured 220,109, according to the latest official tally today. It also leveled more than 4.7 million houses in Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. Chinese authorities upgraded the quake to magnitude 8 from 7.8, according to Xinhua news agency, while the U.S. Geological Survey measured it at 7.9.
Sichuan province has sufficient supplies of oil products, China National said. The daily capacity of the pipeline that supplies fuel from PetroChina's Lanzhou refinery to the province reached 16,900 tons yesterday, 2,000 tons above the average level, it said.
Earthquake Losses
The pipeline supplies more than 70 percent of oil products to the region.
Losses caused by the quake have reached 1.78 billion yuan ($255 million), Beijing-based China National said in a separate statement on its Web site today. Five workers have been killed, 44 injured and five are missing after the temblor, it said.
The State Reserve Bureau had released 6,313 tons of oil products to quake-hit areas by 3 p.m. yesterday, the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planner, said in a statement on its Web site. The bureau is considering releasing further gasoline and diesel reserves from storage sites in Sichuan and Guizhou, it said.
China has diverted jet fuel tankers to Shuangliu and Mianyang airports in Sichuan to ensure supplies, the commission said in a further statement. China National Aviation Fuel Group Corp. sent 68 tankers, or about 3,200 tons of jet fuel to the airports, it said.
Increased Fuel Output
China Aviation, the nation's largest jet fuel supplier, plans to release 5,000 tons of the fuel to quake-hit airports, it said. The state oil company may release an additional 10,000 tons of jet fuel stockpiles if required, it said.
The commission agreed to release 10,000 tons of jet fuel from state reserves in Guizhou on May 16, it said. Airports in Chengdu, the Sichuan capital, ``will now have adequate fuel supply,'' it said.
China Petroleum, or Sinopec, the nation's biggest oil refiner, increased production of diesel and jet fuel to supply earthquake-hit areas of Sichuan province.
Sinopec is producing a record 6,000 tons of diesel a day, or about 45,000 barrels, at the Jingmen refinery, its nearest plant to the quake epicenter, parent China Petrochemical Corp. said in a statement in its online newsletter. Daily output of jet fuel is 1,000 tons, or about 7,800 barrels, also the highest ever, it said.
Editor: Haijing Qu
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