TIANJIN - The construction of a Sino-Russian crude oil refinery is expected to start in the northern industrial city of Tianjin in the second half of the year, local officials said.

Oriental Refinery, the joint venture with an investment of 30 billion yuan ($4.62 billion), was co-funded by PetroChina Company Limited and Russia's Rosneft. It is designed to process 13 million tonnes of crude oil every year.

"The project is a priority for construction. We hope it can start operation by 2015," said Wang Junming, general manager of the Nangang industrial zone development firm, where the project is located.

The Sino-Russian refinery is expected to generate an annual revenue of 60 billion yuan once operation commences.

Wang said the authorities aim to build a complete industrial chain from oil refining to petrochemical engineering in the zone.

In Tianjin, Sinopec is operating a 10-million-tonnes/year refinery, which has ethylene production capacity of 1 million tonnes/year and is building a crude oil storage depot. PetroChina's crude oil storage depot, with capacity of 1 million tonnes, went into operation in 2010.