China's largest petrochem JV commences operations

01-Jul-05

Shanghai-SECCO is China's largest ethylene production facility as well as one of the largest ethylene plants across the globe in single-line production. China's largest petrochem JV - Shanghai SECCO Ethylene Project with a capacity to produce 900,000 tpa of ethylene went into commercial operation, ahead-of-schedule. The SECCO petrochemical complex comprises eight state-of-the-art production units, including a 900,000 tpa ethylene cracker, a 600,000 tpa polyethylene unit, a 250,000 tpa polypropylene unit and a and 300,000 tpa polystyrene unit. The US$2.7-billion ethylene facility is one of China's key projects during its 10th Five-Year Plan period (2001-05). The project is co-funded by China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), the Shanghai Petrochemical Group and BP's investment company in east China, holding stakes of 30%, 20% and 50%, respectively. Last year, China's ethylene consumption stood at 16 million tons, making it the world's second-largest energy consumer after the United States Interestingly, domestic production of ethylene for the same period was 6.27 million tons- barely sufficient to meet 40% of demand, increasing China's dependence on imports. Sinopec's share of domestic production was more than half- 4.25 million tons. Production from the new complex will satisfy domestic demand that is also swelling as the Chinese economy booms.