Sinopec starts Maoming cracker

20-Sep-06

The last in the series of major Chinese petrochemical projects slated for commencement this year - Sinopec Corp.'s new 640,000 tpa naphtha cracker in Maoming, has been launched. The Maoming complex is China's biggest with an ethylene capacity of 1 million tpa. The project will depend on domestic naphtha supplies from Sinopec's south China system, Guangzhou, Dongxing and new Hainan refineries, as feedstock for the unit. The plant is estimated to be running at 100% capacity by the end of the year. The launch of this plant will be followed by two years of lean capacity growth Traders expected China to become a net importer of naphtha for the first time when new crackers built in partnership with BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Germany's BASF came online. But domestic refiners shifted operations maximized output of naphtha to meet the demand, the price of which is closely linked to international markets, unlike government-regulated gasoline and diesel. This plant also continues to thwart bullish traders' hopes for a surge in naphtha imports. Sinopec's new 160,000 bpd Hainan refinery is expected to fill an estimated 50% of the new cracker's capacity.