BEIJING (Reuters) - Two small refineries under state-run China National Chemical Corporation (ChemChina) have been fined by the environmental watchdog for emissions violations and ordered to halt production, state media reported on Friday.
China put a new environment law into effect at the start of 2015, and can now impose unlimited fines and even prison sentences on officials who fail to conform with new standards.
The two ChemChina plants in the eastern province of Shandong were ordered to pay a total of 1.7 million yuan ($273,554) for air emissions that exceeded the permitted levels from a 180,000 tonne-per-year catalytic cracking unit, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
Such a unit normally is used to produce gasoline.
One of them, the Jinan subsidiary of ChemChina's Bluestar Petroleum, was also ordered to pay a 11,298-yuan ($1,818) penalty for emitting waste water that exceeded limits.
Both refineries were ordered to halt production, said the report, without specifying if the affected units were suspended or the whole refineries.
The report did not give the size of the plants, estimated to be below 20,000 barrels per day combined, according to a senior oil trader that deals with the plants.
ChemChina officials did not respond to an email or calls seeking comment.
($1 = 6.2145 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Beijing newsroom)
