Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, June 7 -- China's National Development and Reform Commission has approved the expansion of an ethylene project in Heilongjiang Province, owned by PetroChina subsidiary Daqing Petroleum & Chemical Co.
The commission said the project, aimed at offsetting effects on the local economy of declining oil output from Daqing oil field, will double the plant's capacity to 1.2 million tonnes/year.
Daqing field, which began producing in 1960, produced 43.4 million tonnes of oil in 2006, down about 3% from the year before.
The announcement follows earlier reports that said authorities in Daqing, near the projected terminus of Russia's East Siberia Pacific Ocean oil pipeline, are planning several large-scale petrochemicals developments (OGJ Online, Apr. 9, 2007).
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].