CNOOC Oil & Petrochemicals Co. Ltd., the refining arm of China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC), has commissioned the Phase 2 expansion of subsidiary CNOOC Huizhou Refining & Chemical Co. Ltd.’s (CHRCC) 12 million-tonne/year integrated refining complex at the Daya Bay Economic & Technological Development Zone in Huizhou in China’s Guangdong province (OGJ Online, Apr. 27, 2015).
The operator completed startup and testing of the 15 processing units, auxiliary production units, and supporting public works for the Phase 2 refinery project in early October, CNOOC said.
Designed to increase crude processing capacity at the plant by 10 million tpy as well as its flexibility to process a wider slate of more economically attractive sour Arab Gulf grades, the refining leg of CHRCC’s Phase 2 expansion is scheduled to boost overall processing at the site to its new capacity of 22 million tpy by yearend, the company said.
Ahead of commissioning activities at Huizhou, CNOOC received its first shipment of Saudi Arabian sour crude from Saudi Aramco for the refinery as part of a 2016 memorandum of understanding on future crude supply and downstream cooperation between the companies (OGJ Online, Aug. 30, 2017).
Ethylene update
Alongside increasing processing capacity of the refinery, CNOOC’s 46.6-billion renminbi Phase 2 expansion at Huizhou also includes an ongoing project by CNOOC & Shell Petrochemicals Co. Ltd. (CSPC)—a 50-50 joint venture with Royal Dutch Shell PLC subsidiary Shell Nanhai BV—to build a 1.2 million-tpy ethylene cracker and associated derivatives units at the complex (OGJ Online, Nov. 2, 2016; Dec. 15, 2015).
CSPC’s ethylene expansion, which will increase overall ethylene production at the site to 2.2 million tpy, is slated for mechanical completion in early 2018, CNOOC said.
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].
