Shell's China cracker to start up Dec 2005, as scheduled

14-Sep-05

Royal Dutch/Shell Group's US$4.3 billion joint venture naphtha cracker in China is ready for start up in Dec 2006 as scheduled. Downstream units to process the 800,000 tpa ethylene output are slated to come online in early 2006. A condensate splitter would also be ready at the same time as the cracker, allowing the complex to import either condensate or naphtha as feedstock. This venture, the third world-scale cracker to start this year in China, is a joint venture between Shell and China's No. 3 oil producer, China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC). Part of the required feedstock for the project could come from partner CNOOC’s 12 million tpa Huizhou refinery, expected to commence operations in mid-2008. The joint venture will sell its output primarily in Guangdong and southern China. Shell is also in the process of forming a wholly owned chemicals marketing arm in China, to import and sell output from its plants in Singapore and the Middle East to eastern, central and northeastern China.