Shell, Dow Chemical may join China-Kuwait refinery project

Royal Dutch Shell and American multinational corporation Dow Chemical Co. have indicated interest to be partners of Kuwait Petroleum Corp. (KPC) in its refinery joint venture with Sinopec, China’s largest state-owned oil refiner, according to Abdullatif Al-Houti, KPC’s managing director for international marketing. Al-Houti disclosed that KPC is seeking regulatory approval to introduce the two companies as a third party of the Nansha refinery located in China’s Guangdong province, which is scheduled to commence operation in 2012 with an investment of more than US$5 billion. The refinery, in which Sinopec will hold a 50% stake, will be capable of refining 300,000 to 350,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil. It also includes a petrochemical plant with an annual ethylene production capacity of one million tons. KPC expects to provide 500,000 to 700,000 bpd of crude oil to the Nansha refinery and Sinopec’s another refinery under construction in Quanzhou by 2015, according to a senior executive of KPC. (June 4, 2008)