Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 4 -- China's economic planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), has approved a joint refinery venture project between China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) and Kuwait Petroleum Corp. (KPC) in southern China's Guangdong province.
Sinopec last year agreed to establish a $5 billion joint venture refinery with KPC in the Guangdong city of Nansha, with a refining capacity of as much as 15 million tones/year and an ethylene capacity of 1 million tonnes/year.
Sinopec gave no timetable for the project, but once it is online, NDRC has ordered Sinopec to shut down its 200,000 tonne/year capacity ethylene facility operated by Sinopec Guangzhou.