Sinopec in discussions with Kuwait Petroleum over Nansha refinery

China Petroleum Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) and Kuwait Petroleum are in discussions over building a refinery and petrochemical complex in Nansha, in China’s southern province of Guangdong, Sinopec has confirmed. According to a report in China Daily, other partners in the US$5 billion project could include Dow Chemical and Royal Dutch Shell. Jia Yiqun, Sinopecs spokesman in Hong Kong, says that Sinopec no longer needs investment capital from foreign partners and also can secure non-proprietary manufacturing processes for most projects. But senior Kuwaiti government officials are interested in investing in China, Jia says, and Kuwait could supply crude oil to the project. (August 15, 2007)