CNOOC-Shell joint venture advances Huizhou ethylene expansion

Royal Dutch Shell PLC subsidiary Shell Nanhai BV and China National Offshore Oil Corp.’s (CNOOC) 50-50 joint venture CNOOC & Shell Petrochemicals Co. Ltd. (CSPC) has completed its previously announced plan to take ownership of CNOOC’s ongoing project to build a 1.2 million-tonne/year ethylene cracker and associated derivatives units at CSPC’s existing petrochemical complex in the Daya Bay Economic & Technological Development Zone, Huizhou, Guangdong Province, China (OGJ Online, Dec. 15, 2015).

CSPC assumed full ownership of the project as of Nov. 2 after receiving all necessary government approvals, Shell and CNOOC said.

With construction work on the expansion now 70% completed, the project’s new units—including what will be China’s largest styrene monomer and propylene oxide (SMPO) plant—are due for startup sometime during fourth-quarter 2017, the companies said.

The project, on which Shell and CNOOC reached final investment decision in March, comes as part of CSPC’s strategy to help meet China’s growing domestic demand for petrochemical products (OGJ Online, Mar. 22, 2016).

Alongside its increased production of ethylene, the expanded complex will use Shell’s proprietary OMEGA, SMPO, and Polyols technologies to produce the following: ethylene oxide, 150,000 tpy; ethylene glycol, 480,000 tpy; styrene monomer, 630,000 tpy; propylene oxide, 300,000 tpy; and high-quality polyols, 600,000 tpy.

Once completed, the expansion project will more than double the volume and range of products at CSPC’s Nanhai complex, which currently produces the following: 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].