Sinopec plans to invest in Wuhan ethylene plant

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) is in talks with foreign companies for joint investment in its planned US$1.9-billion ethylene facility in Wuhan city, central China, a senior official said. The ethylene plant is designed to produce 800,000 metric tons of ethylene each year, with feedstock to come from Sinopec’s nearby Wuhan refinery. Sinopec will expand the capacity of its Wuhan refinery to 160,700 barrels a day, from its current capacity of 100,400 barrels a day. The refinery expansion should be completed at the same time as the construction of the ethylene plant, said an official, who did not indicate a specific timeframe for the project. SK Corp., South Korea’s largest refiner by capacity, and Formosa Plastics Group, Taiwan’s leading petrochemical producer, are among the foreign companies in talks with Sinopec for the first large-scale petrochemical complex in central China. The central government plans to raise the country’s annual ethylene capacity by 4.38 million tons through expansion and upgrading of existing plants by 2010, and by an additional 6.2 million tons via new plants. (April 5, 2007)