Sinopec starts work on $2.8 bil coal-based petchem complex in southwest China

05-Oct-11

State-owned China Petrochemical Corp (Sinopec Group) and the provincial government of Guizhou has launched a coal-based petrochemical project, with Yuan 18 bln (US$2.8 bln) investment by Sinopec for the first phase of the project, as per Platts. The project is to be located in Xingren county's Qianxinan city, which has proven coal reserves of about 7.53 bln tpa. But as the local coal processing industry is not well developed, 80% of the coal produced is sold to other regions of China. In the first phase, Sinopec will build a 1.8 mln tpa coal-to-methanol complex, a 600,000 mln tpa methanol-to-olefins unit, a 300,000 mln tpa liner low density polyethylene plant and a 300,000 mln tpa polypropylene plant. The Guizhou provincial government is also planning to build a 5 mln tpa coal-to-oil project, which has been submitted to the central government for approval. The coal-to-oil project is estimated to cost Yuan 75 billion and would involve converting 20 mln tpa of coal to produce 5 mln tpa of oil.