Royal Dutch Shell PLC and China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) have agreed to expand capacity at their 50-50 joint venture CNOOC & Shell Petrochemicals Co. Ltd.’s (CSPC) petrochemical complex in the Daya Bay Economic and Technological Development Zone, Huizhou, Guangdong Province, China.
The companies, which recently signed a heads of agreement, intend to build additional chemical production installations adjacent to the JV’s existing Nanhai petrochemical complex, with the expanded operations due to be commissioned in 2 years, the companies said.
In addition to improving overall the complex’s overall energy efficiency and quality of production, the expanded petrochemical complex will boost Nanhai’s ethylene production capacity by more than 1 million tonnes/year, or about double its current capacity, the companies said.
According to the HOA, the expansion involves ongoing construction of an ethylene cracker (OGJ Online, Dec. 20, 2013) as well as ethylene derivatives units, including styrene monomer (SMPO) and propylene oxide (POD) plants, which will be equipped with Shell’s proprietary OMEGA and SMPO/POD technologies for production of ethylene oxide and ethylene glycol.
The expansion project comes as part of CSPC’s plan to meet China’s growing demand for petrochemical products, said CNOOC Pres. Yang Hua.
Current production capacities at the Nanhai complex include: ethylene, 950,000 tpy; propylene, 500,000 tpy; butadiene, 165,000 tpy; low-density polyethylene, 250,000 tpy; high-density polyethylene, 260,000 tpy; polypropylene, 260,000 tpy; monoethylene glycol, 350,000 tpy; styrene monomer, 640,000 tpy; propylene oxide, 290,000 tpy; polyols, 170,000 tpy; and propylene glycol, 60,000 tpy.
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].
