Honeywell has announced that PetroChina Company Limited will expand its use of Honeywell advanced information management and process modeling software tools to 17 additional refining and petrochemical sites across China, to help meet the country's growing demand for chemicals and transportation fuels. PetroChina currently uses Honeywell's information solutions at 13 locations.

Honeywell's Refining and Petrochemical Modeling System (RPMS) and its Intuition? Executive advanced information management software will give PetroChina plant operators the ability to monitor operations across its entire organization to help provide the real-time information they need to better improve the profitability and efficiency of their plants.

"Refiners and chemical plant operators must make complex business decisions quickly to take advantage of rapidly changing market conditions - from prices for feedstocks such as crude oil and natural gas, to rising demand for finished products," said Aldous Wong, vice president and general manager, Honeywell Process Solutions, China. "Implementing these Honeywell solutions across more of their locations will help PetroChina maximize profitability through better visibility and efficiency of their overall operations, and help them meet the growing demand for energy."

China is the world's largest consumer of energy and the second largest consumer of crude oil, slightly behind the United States, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Many analysts expect China to become the world's largest importer of crude oil within the year, putting pressure on its refining and petrochemical facilities to improve their efficiency.

PetroChina, the country's largest oil and gas producer and distributor, first deployed RPMS at its headquarters in Beijing, and 12 refineries and petrochemical facilities in 2005. The success of that project has led to the current expansion project that will extend implementation of the advanced planning technology to cover all its refining and petrochemical businesses.

PetroChina expects to complete the project within two years.