Aramco has revealed plans for its Huajin Aramco Petrochemical Company (HAPCO) joint venture (JV) of beginning construction on an integrated refinery and petrochemical complex in northeast China.
The company’s partners in HAPCO are Chinese manufacturing company NORINCO Group (51%) and Panjin Xincheng Industrial Group (19%). Aramco holds a stake of 30% in the JV, which was established in December 2019.
The refinery and petrochemical complex will be located in Panjin city in the Liaoning province.
Panjin Xincheng board chairman Jia Fei said: “The project is of great significance for Panjin to promote increasing chemicals and speciality products, strengthening the integration of the refining and chemical industry. It is a symbolic project for Panjin as it seeks to accelerate the development of an important national petrochemical and fine chemical industry base.”
According to Aramco, the greenfield project will house a refinery with a capacity of 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) and a petrochemical plant which will annually produce 1.65 million metric tons of ethylene and two million metric tons of paraxylene.
Aramco downstream executive vice president Mohammed Al Qahtani said: “This important project will support China’s growing demand across fuel and chemical products. It also represents a major milestone in our ongoing downstream expansion strategy in China and the wider region, which is an increasingly significant driver of global petrochemical demand.”
HAPCO is expected to begin construction in Q2 2023 following the receipt of the requisite administrative approvals. The downstream project is anticipated to be fully operational by 2026, said Aramco.
Aramco said that it will provide up to 210,000bpd of crude oil feedstock to the complex.
The Saudi Arabia-based energy company took the final investment decision to take part in the development of the integrated refinery and petrochemical complex in March 2022.
