Sinopec Maoming Refining & Chemical Co is now operating China's biggest ethylene plant - a facility whose capacity equals one-tenth of the country's total.

A 640,000-ton ethylene cracker went into operation on Sep 16, giving the Guangdong Province plant the capacity to produce 1 million tons a year of the key building block for petrochemicals.

The 8.1 billion yuan (US$1.02 billion) expansion is expected to raise Sinopec Maoming's annual sales by 15 billion yuan to 70 billion yuan.

The expansion also includes the production of other chemicals such as polyethylene and polypropylene, which are widely used in plastics.

"The project will improve the structure of the company's chemical product mix, meet customer demand in Guangdong and help boost Sinopec's presence in the country's south," said the company, which is also a unit of China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, Asia's top oil refiner.

China's demand for ethylene is set to grow at a rapid pace as economy expands. The National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planner, unveiled a program at the end of last year to add more than 10 million tons of ethylene capacity through 2010 by building new projects and expanding existing ones.

In 2005, the country produced 7.55 million tons of ethylene.

Even so, China had to import about 40 percent of its needs for the chemical last year.

In the past, many of big chemical operations were joint ventures between Chinese firms and international companies such as BP Plc, BASF AG and Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

Source:佚名