Officials manage private oil refinery

Government officials in northeast China have taken over the management of one of China’s largest private oil refineries in connection with tax investigations. A team led by officials from the city of Panjin in Liaoning has been appointed to manage the financially troubled Liaoning Bora Enterprise Group. The team is trying to restructure Bora to prevent it from collapsing, news agency Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed informed sources. According to the report, the ongoing investigation into large amounts of unpaid taxes could lead to heavy fines for Bora and, subsequently, bankruptcy. Bora has a crude oil processing capacity of more than 20 million tonnes per year. Due to its size, a collapse of Bora would lead to many layoffs and pose a financial risk to the city of Panjin itself.