PetroChina Guangxi Petrochemical 30.5 billion Refining and Chemical Integration Project: Reshaping the Pattern of Regional Petrochemical Industry

Project panorama: strategic investment and capacity layout

petroChina Guangxi Petrochemical Refining and Chemical Integration Transformation and Upgrading Project was fully launched on July 28, 2024, with a total investment of 30.5 billion yuan (approximately US $4.2 billion), and is planned to be completed and put into operation in 2025. The project is a major project in the planning and layout of the national petrochemical industry. It has been included in the national "Petrochemical Industry Planning and Layout Plan" planning project, and the autonomous region will focus on promoting ten major industrial projects in 2022, with strong policy support.

The project is located in the Petrochemical Industrial Park in Qinzhou Port Area of Guangxi Pilot Free Trade Zone. Relying on the existing 10 million-ton refining capacity, 14 sets of chemical plants such as 1.2 million-ton/year ethylene cracking plant and 2 sets of refining plants such as 2 million-ton/year diesel adsorption and dearomatization are newly built. After it is put into production, the production capacity of basic chemical raw materials such as ethylene, propylene and butadiene will be increased by about 2.76 million tons, and high value-added products such as high-end polyolefin, EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer) and solution rubber will be extended. The annual output value is expected to be about 30 billion yuan and the tax revenue is about 3 billion yuan.

As of February 2025, the overall progress of the project has been completed by 75%, and it has entered the stage of process installation and completion and three checks and four fixed stages. The 300000 ton/year polystyrene (PS) plant has completed the installation of steel structure equipment and is entering the process pipeline finishing and pressure application work. On May 16, the first batch of starting materials (2500 tons of methylcyclohexane) for the 2 million-ton/year diesel adsorption and separation plant entered the plant smoothly, marking that the project entered the substantive production preparation stage.

On December 11, the 35000 tons/year styrene extraction unit successfully produced the first batch of qualified products and became the first production unit of the project. The device uses Sulzer (Beijing) technology, with the cracking C8 + produced by the upstream pyrolysis gasoline hydrogenation unit as raw material, and recovers high value-added styrene products in crude pyrolysis gasoline through precise separation technology. The device is EPC contracted by Huanqiu Engineering Company, and the construction of CNPC Six Construction has been started since July 2023, and it took 23 months to realize Zhongjiao.

The Significance of Technological Innovation and Industrial Upgrading

the project is a strategic project of PetroChina to promote the "oil reduction and increase" structure adjustment. The core goal is to promote the transformation of Guangxi Petrochemical from "fuel type" to "chemical products and organic materials type. The 2 million tons/year diesel adsorption separation device adopts the "oil reduction and increase" technology developed based on the concept of "molecular engineering", which can realize the high purity separation of diesel fractions, supply the produced adsorption non-aromatic hydrocarbons to the ethylene cracking device, and adsorb heavy aromatic hydrocarbons for increasing the production of high-value products such as naphtha and propylene.

The 35000 t/a styrene extraction unit, as the first similar unit of PetroChina, has achieved a technological breakthrough in obtaining high value-added products from low-cost by-products (cracking C8 + fraction). As an important basic chemical raw material, styrene is widely used in the production of polystyrene (PS), ABS, unsaturated polyester resin (UPR), styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) and other synthetic materials. The device not only increases the variety of products, but also provides stable localized supply for downstream customers, helping to reduce supply chain costs and risks.

The project adopts a number of advanced technologies: the 120000-ton/year solution-polymerized styrene-butadiene rubber (SSBR) unit adopts the joint development technology of China Petroleum and Chemical Research Institute and Lanzhou Huanqiu Engineering, including two production lines of 60000-ton/year continuous polymerization and 60000-ton/year intermittent polymerization, which can produce the third/fourth generation functionalization brand; The 80000-ton/year SBS unit adopts intermittent polymerization technology jointly developed by Xinjiang Huanqiu and Dushanzi Petrochemical, it can produce a variety of brand products to meet the diversified needs of asphalt modification, polymer modification, shoemaking, adhesives, etc.

Regional Markets and International Impact

from the perspective of the global petrochemical industry pattern, China is the world's largest consumer market for petrochemical products, but basic chemical raw materials in South China, especially in the southwest coastal areas, have long been dependent on the supply or import of East China and North China. The construction of Guangxi petrochemical project fills the gap of regional high-end chemical new material industry, and meets the market demand of the areas along the "Belt and Road" and the new land and sea corridor in the west.

After the project is put into operation, it will effectively alleviate the contradiction between supply and demand of the current refining overcapacity but the shortage of basic chemical raw materials. China's primary crude oil processing capacity in 2024 has reached 0.925 billion tons/year, but the ethylene production capacity is only about 50 million tons/year, and the ethylene equivalent consumption gap is about 20 million tons. The release of Guangxi Petrochemical's 2.76 million tons of basic chemical raw material production capacity will provide a more adequate supply of raw materials for South China and even the ASEAN market.

For international chemical traders and supply chain practitioners, the project has multiple meanings: ① As an important node of the new land and sea channel in the west, Qinzhou Port has a short voyage from the main ASEAN ports, and the project products can quickly radiate the Southeast Asian market; ② Guangxi and Vietnam, Cambodia and other ASEAN countries border by land to facilitate the export of chemical products; ③ After the completion of the project, a more complete industrial supporting system will be formed in the region to attract downstream processing enterprises to settle down, promote the construction of trillion-level petrochemical industry clusters.

The project plays an important role in "building a trillion-level green chemical new material industry cluster for ASEAN. With the entry into force of RCEP and the deepening of China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, regional trade barriers are reduced, and Guangxi Petrochemical, as a petrochemical industry bridgehead connecting China and ASEAN, will have a more prominent strategic position advantage. It is recommended that international market participants pay close attention to the progress of the project, assess the impact on the regional supply pattern and trade flow, and lay out relevant product procurement and logistics channels in advance.