BEIJING, June 27-- Under a 5-year energy development plan, China plans to raise its sour crude refining capacity to 75 million tonnes/year by 2005, up from 30 million tonnes at the end of 2000.

China is forecast to overtake the U.S. as the world’s biggest crude importer in 2016 and that’s largely thanks to a group of buyers who weren’t allowed to purchase foreign oil a year ago.