Paid for and posted byCME Group 7 Min Read AT A GLANCE · Economic growth returned to China in late 2020, and with it came capacity expansion for oil refineries · Four Chinese refinery projects in development could make up more than the entire capacity of the UK In the global refining industry, COVID-19 has exposed a seismic shift. While China’s oil refineries forge ahead with capacity expansion, many western-based refiners have retrenched. As China again hits the stimulus pedal, this year it is expected to officially surpass the U.S. as the world’s largest oil refiner according to the International Energy Agency (EIA).