BP and Xin Feng Ming Group (Xinfengming) have entered into an agreement to license BP's latest generation purified terephthalic acid (PTA) technology to Dushan Energy, a subsidiary of Xinfengming, for a new PTA plant to be built in Pinghu, Zhejiang Province, China, as per Apic-online.

Dushan plans to set up a 2.2-million-t/y PTA unit at Dushan Port Economic Development Zone. Basic design of the unit has been completed and construction on the site has started.  Production is expected to begin in the third quarter of next year.

In addition, BP and Xinfengming have signed a memorandum of understanding to deepen strategic cooperation along the polyester raw materials value chain and Xinfengming intends to deploy BP technologies for all of its future PTA and related investments.

Xinfengming Group Co.,Ltd. manufactures and sells polyester yarns in the People’s Republic of China. It offers FDY, POY, DTY, DT color, and polyester chips. The company provides moisture absorption and sweat discharging fiber; warm hollow fiber; fire proof fiber; bamboo charcoal fiber; lat fiber; and antibacterial fiber. It also markets its products in Turkey, Egypt, Vietnam, South Korea, Pakistan, Spain, Italy, and internationally. The company was founded in 2000 and is based in Tongxiang, the People’s Republic of China.

China's National Development and Reform Commission has approved China National Petroleum Corp.'s plans to construct a 10-million-tonne/year refinery at Jieyang in southern Guangdong province.

The approval is the latest effort by the government to boost China's refining capacity in the wake of severe shortages over the past several years throughout the country, but especially in its southern regions.

"The refinery will help CNPC better tap the rising demand for petrochemical products in the Pearl River Delta region," said Cai Enming, an executive with China Petroleum and Chemical Association.

Although China's other two main oil companies, Sinopec and CNOOC, already have refineries in Guangdong, the facility marks a new departure for CNPC as most of its existing refineries are located in China's northeastern and northwestern regions.

Cai underlined the need for CNPC to operate a refinery closer to the market it serves, saying that, "The cost would be too high for CNPC to transport its products from these [northern] refineries to Guangdong."

Chinese media reported that the project would likely refine heavy oil imported from Venezuela.

The reports follow an announcement by CNPC on Feb. 13 that it has started a new research program that aims to lighten heavy crude oil, enabling it to build several refineries able to process such Venezuelan oil

China's largest chemical-fiber producer Zhejiang Hengyi has ambitious plans for its petrochemical plant in Brunei, as it aims to ensure production material supplies and broaden its market reach through the project.

From the outset, the project has been a milestone for both parties. It is the largest overseas investment by a private-owned Chinese company, as well as the first complex of such scale in Brunei producing aromatics. Exploring Overseas Opportunities

The Zhejiang-based company started negotiations with the Brunei government on building an integrated petrochemical project in the country in 2010. The move aimed to reduce Hengyi's reliance on imports of petrochemical raw materials, mainly paraxylene. Back then, 60 percent of its consumption of paraxylene came from imports.

High dependence on imported raw materials not only made it more difficult to secure supplies but also escalate prices. Given that the textile industry was under-performing, chemical-fiber manufacturers like Hengyi were struggling to achieve target.

However, Hengyi's bold decision to explore opportunities abroad in Oil and Gas rich country Brunei, may well be the lifeline needed to bring Hengyi up to the next level.

In July 2011, Hengyi obtained approval from the Brunei government to invest an integrated refinery and aromatics cracker plant at Puala Muara Besar (PMB).

The first phase of the PMB project is estimated to cost US$4 billion with potentially a further increase to USD6 billion in the second phase subject to the Brunei Government's approval.

Oil products for the PMB project will be sourced both in Brunei and other countries. Petrochemical products will mainly be shipped back to China for Hengyi's material supplies.

"The refinery and aromatics cracker plant at PMB will meet 30 percent of Zhejiang Hengyi's demand for petrochemical products" said Mr Qiu back in 2011. "The consistent and uninterrupted supply of production materials can affect our international competitiveness," he said.

The PMB project is expected to produce approximately 175,000 barrels a day and is targeted to be completed by 2017, according to Hengyi.

Zhejiang Petrochemical Co. Ltd. (ZPC) has let a contract to Honeywell UOP LLC and Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS), both divisions of Honeywell International Inc., Des Plaines, Ill., to provide a range of process technologies, engineering design, equipment, catalysts and adsorbents, and advanced automation controls for units to be installed as part of the second phase of its 800,000-b/d integrated refining and petrochemical complex in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province, China (OGJ Online, Nov. 6, 2018).

“This second phase of the complex by itself will process 400,000 b/d of crude oil and produce another 6 million tonnes/year of aromatics when completed,” said Bryan Glover, Honeywell UOP’s vice-president and general manager of process technology and equipment.

Once completed, the Phase 2 development will make ZPC’s site the largest crude-to-chemicals complex in the world, with more than 50% of the crude converting to petrochemicals, helping China move closer to achieving self-sufficiency in paraxylene while serving as a major new source of propylene, jet fuel, and more, Glover said.

UOP’s scope of delivery for the project includes licensing, design, key equipment, and all associated catalysts and adsorbents, for the following:

? A two-train aromatics complex based on UOP’s LD Parex process—including its Sulfolane, Isomar, and Tatoray process technologies—that will produce 4.8 million tpy of paraxylene.

Tongkun Group Co. Ltd. subsidiary Jiaxing Petrochemical Co. Ltd. (JPCL) has commissioned a second purified terephthalic acid (PTA) unit at its petrochemical production plant at Zhejiang Zhapu Industrial Park in Jiaxing Port Area, Zhejiang Province, China.

Equipped with Invista Performance Technologies’ (IPT) latest P8 proprietary PTA process technology, the first reaction train of the new PTA line reached its fully designed rate in 10 days after introduction of first feedstock, IPT said. While IPT did not specify capacity of the new line, the new PTA plant previously was slated to have a nameplate capacity of 1.2 million tonnes/year, Tongkun said in a 2013 regulatory filing on the project.

In addition to the new PTA plant, JPCL operates a 1.67 million-tpy PTA line at the site that, commissioned in 2012, also is equipped with IPT’s process technology, according to a PTA reference list posted to the service company’s web site.

Start-up of the second PTA plant marks the first commercial deployment of P8 PTA technology, IPT said.