CHINA is planning a major expansion of its oil refineries to help reduce reliance on imports and keep up with demand, a state-run newspaper has reported.

Plans call for the country to have 31 refineries by 2015, each with a capacity to process 10 million tons of crude oil a year, or 220,000 barrels a day, the Economic Observer said over the weekend.

At the end of last year China had only nine facilities with similar capacity.

The National Development and Reform Commission also expects by 2015 to have 30 ethylene factories, each with an annual output of a million tons a year, the report said, citing unnamed officials.

China Petrochemical Corp, or Sinopec, is planning about 20 refineries able to process 10 million tons of crude oil a year, it said. Some would be new but most would involve less costly expansions of refineries.

PetroChina, China's biggest oil conglomerate, is expected to build at least 10 refineries of the same size, the report said.

Sinopec, Asia's largest refiner by capacity, and other refiners have struggled with losses from refining as crude oil prices have soared in the past two years.

But the expansion plan reflects China's long-term agenda for meeting soaring demand and building up its chemicals sector.