Largest Cross-Straits Petrochemicals Industry Project Starts Operation

The Gulei Refining and Chemical Integration Project in East China's Fujian Province, the largest cross-Straits petrochemicals industry project, was put into production on Aug 18.

Located in Zhangzhou, Fujian, the project is developed by China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation and will make high-end chemical products.

Its first phase, with a total investment of 27.8 billion yuan, mainly involves construction of nine sets of chemical plants with an annual output of 1 million tons of megaton ethylene and 600,000 tons of styrene; it will include supporting public works as well as a wharf berth with an annual throughput capacity of 7.8 million tons.

The project will be mainly used for production of 18 kinds of products such as polypropylene, ethylene glycol and styrene, and the total product volume is expected to reach 3 million tons annually.

An in-depth promotion of cooperation of the petrochemicals industry on both sides of the Taiwan Straits, it is expected to have an annual output value of more than 26 billion yuan ($4.01 billion), realize annual profit tax of 4 billion yuan and boost development of downstream industries valued at hundreds of billions of yuan. It will also create jobs for people in affected areas as well as optimize the layout of the national refining industry, boost economic and social development in Fujian and promote trade and common prosperity across the Straits.

So far, construction of the second phase of the project is underway, which is expected to increase the project's annual production capacity of ethylene to 1.4 million tons and the total product volume to 4.2 million tons annually.

By that time, the project will be the largest and the most competitive benchmark for in-depth cooperation of the petrochemical industries across the Taiwan Straits.

(Executive editor: Niu Yilin)