PetroChina makes FID for new northeast refinery complex
PetroChina has made the final investment decision (FID) to build a new multi-billion-dollar refinery and petrochemical complex in northeast China's Dalian, following the recent closure of a nearby old plant, according to a company official and two industry sources.
The new complex comprises a 200,000-bpd crude oil refinery, a 1.4-metric MMtpy ethylene complex as well as a variety of downstream petrochemical units such as polyethylene, polypropylene and polyolefin elastomer, said the official and one of the industry sources.
The official declined to be named because the decision is not yet public while the sources with knowledge of the matter spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak about it publicly.
It remains unclear when exactly the FID for the new site was made.
The complex, to be built on Changxing Island, about two hours' drive from downtown Dalian, has an estimated cost of 68.5 B yuan ($9.56 B), said a second source.
PetroChina has begun building some infrastructure at the site such as a jetty and pipelines, said one of the two industry sources.
It has been reported that PetroChina was on track to close the whole 410,000-bpd refinery in downtown Dalian operated by subsidiary Dalian Petrochemical Corp., switching off the last crude oil unit last month and set to clean out refined fuel inventories by the end of August.
The mothballing of the old plant, PetroChina's largest domestic refinery in China, came amid refiners' struggle with overcapacity and weakened fuel demand from slowing economic growth and the electrification of the country's car fleet.
($1 = 7.1673 Chinese yuan renminbi)
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