BEIJING�Eastern China's Yangzi Petrochemical Corp., a unit of China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec), has begun a 4.48 billion yuan project to expand the ethylene capacity of its Yangzi plans.
The expansion calls for raising the current ethylene cracking capacity from 400,000 tonnes/year to 650,000 tonnes/year at the cost of 4.48 billion yuan.
Sinopec expects to complete the expansion in the third quarter of 2002.
Located in Nanjing city of Jiangsu province, Yangzi is one of Sinopec's five ethylene crackers slated for expansion before 2003. All are being expanded from 400,000 tonnes-450,000 tonnes/year to 600,000 tonnes-700,000 tonnes/year after winning government approval.
The government also has approved a Sinopec plan to build a greenfield ethylene cracker at Yangzi.
The new 600,000 tons/year cracker will be built in a joint venture with BASF AG at the cost of $2.6 billion. The partners expect to start construction in 2002 and complete the cracker in 2004.
China consumed 9.1 million tons of ethylene in 1999, with only 42% coming from domestic production.
