China Petrochemical Corp. (Sinopec), Beijing, is stepping up its expansion campaign.
It began manufacturing operations at four ethylene units last year, each with 300,000 ton/year capacity, the company's 1990 annual report said. The plants are at Daqing, Qilu, Yangzi, and Shanghai.
Ethylene capacity nationwide is to rise to 2.3 million tons/year by 1995 and 3 million tons/year in 2000-targets set in China's modernization program. The goals are to be fulfillment of China's eighth 5 year plan and 10 year long term plan.
Sinopec finished building five refineries at Zhenhai, Guangzhou, Maoming, Jaijiao, and Dalian to process imported crude.
Storage and transportation facilities were built last year, including docks at Zhenhai and Dalian, the Hubei Jicheng oil depot, and Jinzhou Bijiashan oil pipeline.
Nine furnaces and six generators were built at eight power plants, where coal is used instead of oil. The new facilities helped increase power generation by 174,000 kw.
The Fushun acrylonitrile unit was started up during 1990, and construction of an ethylene plant there was accelerated, Sinopec said.
Elsewhere, building began on the Fujian refinery, Baling caprolactam plant, and Urumqi polyester plant.
PROCESSING CAPACITY
Sinopec controls 86% of China's 2.9 million b/d of crude oil processing capacity and has 93% of the country's 1.96 million tons/year of ethylene capacity. Last year the company processed 1.67 million b/d of crude-more than 90% of China's total crude runs. The volume was up 0.7% from a year earlier.
It produced 812,012 b/d of gasoline, kerosine, diesel fuel, and lubricating oil, a 0.4% increase from the prior year. Figures for each product aren't disclosed.
Sinopec says chemical growth surpassed the oil products sector during 1990. Ethylene production reached 1.44 million tons, an increase of more than 13.3% from a year ago. There were 1.36 million tons of raw plastic materials produced during 1990, also up 13.3% from the previous year.
Monomer production for synthetic fibers increased 23%, or 790,000 tons, from 1989. Raw materials production in 1990 was up 12% from 1989. Output of synthetic fibers and their polymers, synthetic elastomers, ammonia, and urea was slightly higher than the 1989 level. Volume isn't disclosed.
Sinopec processed 68,800 b/d of imported crude oil during 1990, up an undisclosed-but significant-volume from the prior year, it said. The company refined the imported crude with "a view to widening the source of supply of raw materials and adjusting the crude slate."
The company's coastal refining centers at Maoming, Guangzhou, Zhenhai, and Dalian during 1990 acquired the capability to process foreign crude.
FOREIGN TRADE
Last year Sinopec exported about 6 million tons of products with a sales volume of $1.42 billion (U.S.). It pegs the export value of products directly handled by the company at $225 million.
Sinopec imported items last year with a value of $354.25 million. The total includes $110.35 million in technologies and equipment sets, $152.39 million in chemical raw materials, and $48-84 million in steel, nonferrous metals, and wood.
The company joined a large purchasing group organized by China's Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations to develop business with the U.S. Sinopec signed contracts valued at $10 million and letters of intent valued at $15 million to import technology and equipment from the U.S.
Since its founding in July 1983, Sinopec has used foreign capital to build China's petrochemical industry. In December 1990, it signed agreements with foreign lenders for $80 million to be used in undisclosed projects.
Last year it used borrowed foreign capital to attract more investment in China. it launched petrochemical joint ventures and wholly owned enterprises with the funds. Sinopec International, organized to handle liaison and negotiations with foreign companies, conducted talks with 10 or more foreign companies in 1990.
Sinopec reports substantial progress achieved on 11 joint ventures, including the Fushun acetonitrile refining unit. Contracts on other undisclosed ventures are to be let soon, Sinopec said.
The company cooperated with scientific research organizations from more than 10 countries during 1990. it worked with the Soviet Union, U.S., Japan, and Germany in research and development as well as technological exchanges.
Sinopec said it obtained good results from a Soviet exchange project on use of oil shale and development of special agricultural items in a venture with Japan.
RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT
Sinopec reports progress in technology during 1990, when it developed 20,000 and 10,000 ton/year ethylene cracking furnaces designed by Chinese engineers. Sinopec said the units show that China has the ability to design, build, install, and operate large ethylene cracking furnaces. A catalytic pyrolysis unit, which mainly makes propylene, was developed by the company and tested last year.
"It is a breakthrough in the conventional technology of high temperature steam cracking, opening a new path for producing olefins," Sinopec said.
"These achievements, together with the technology of long residuum catalytic cracking and mild hydrocracking developed and commercialized in earlier years, mark the stepping up of China's petroleum refining and petrochemical technology to a new high level."
Its recent work building new production units and improving existing heavy oil catalytic cracking, hydrocracking, coking, and visbreaking units allowed the company to increase bottoms upgrading capacity 60% and the yield of light oil products by 5% compared with 6 years ago. Volumes aren't disclosed.
Production of 90 octane and higher gasoline accounted for 35% of all gasoline produced last year in China. Sinopec says it reached that level by building and reconfiguring a number of catalytic reforming, alkylation, methyl tertiary butyl ether, and other units. Production of high and medium grade lube oil was increased, totaling 57% of all China's lube products manufactured last year.
And Sinopec's capacity to produce polypropylene from refinery gas reached 300,000 tons/year during 1990.
Copyright 1991 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
