The refining capacity expansion of Saudi Arabia, Brazil, China, India and Iran is around 44 percent of global refining capacity during 2009 to 2013, a report sad on Wednesday. The refining industry in all these countries is dominated by state owned companies. Regions like Asia Pacific and Middle East and Africa are poised to emerge as new refining hubs globally. The cumulative refining capacity of these countries accounted for total 18.3 percent of global refining capacity in 2008. Rapid decline in petroleum product demand in the US and major developed nations has led to declining refinery margins, which has discouraged refinery expansions by major oil and gas companies globally. The global refining industry, hit by the economic crisis, has been supported in its revival by national oil companies from different regions. Prospective increase in demand of refined products post-recession in emerging geographies has prompted the national oil companies to invest in refineries by capitalizing on low refinery asset prices. Further, national oil companies in the Middle East, Asia Pacific and South and Central America are committed to increase their refinery infrastructure to transform these regions into oil and gas trading hubs. National oil companies in China and India have invested in complex refineries to cater to the developed export markets in the US and Europe. The global financial slowdown, which led to decline in demand for petroleum product demand has forced major integrated oil and gas companies to either defer or stall planned refinery projects. Global refinery utilization has also experienced significant dip due to declining product demand and the utilization stood at 85 percent in 2008, a decrease of 1 percent over the previous year. In 2009, refinery utilization in all the emerging refining markets either declined or stabilized. Recently commissioned refineries in India, China, Vietnam, Algeria and Qatar have added to the global supply rise.
