September 23, 2024 – The highly anticipated flagship project among Hunan Province’s “Top Ten Industrial Projects” in 2024, Sinopec’s Yueyang region (Hunan Petrochemical) 1 million metric tons per annum (MMTPA) ethylene refining and petrochemical integration project, is forging ahead at full speed, with its site preparation activities presenting a bustling scene of intense activity. In parallel, the complementary refinery revamp project is progressing in an orderly manner, as all participating entities strictly adhere to the established timeline, accelerating the approval of the overall design and executing a series of supporting works, including site leveling, road construction, and pipeline relocation.
Significant strides have been made in the project’s construction preparation, not only completing the layout of the general construction plan and the planning of infrastructure construction but also successfully formulating strategies for standardized worksite establishment. In the Changling North New Area, approximately 75% of site leveling has been accomplished, with an anticipated readiness for land handover by the end of October. Currently, this area is organizing the clearing of surfaces and the outward transport of earth and stone for the refinery supporting revamp project’s site. Meanwhile, site leveling in Hunan Petrochemical’s second zone has officially commenced, aiming to be ready for land handover by the year’s end. Additionally, construction has kicked off for three key supporting first-grade highways closely related to the project.
AsiaMB has learned that this project, with a total investment of 35.68 billion yuan, is situated in the Hunan Yueyang Green Chemical High-tech Industrial Development Zone, spanning the Changling and Baling districts within the park. The ethylene project’s main construction encompasses a new 1 MMTPA ethylene plant and 14 downstream chemical plants. Among these, ten will be newly built in the Changling New Area, including ethylene units, pyrolysis gasoline hydrogenation units, and aromatics extraction units, while the remaining four will be constructed in the Baling Old Area, leveraging the existing facilities of the original Baling Petrochemical. Furthermore, essential storage and transportation projects, utilities, and auxiliary facilities will be established.
Regarding the refinery supporting revamp project, key construction includes a new 3 MMTPA hydrocracking complex, a 60,000 MTPA sulfur recovery unit, and a 1 MMTPA solvent deasphalting unit. Simultaneously, the 2# atmospheric and vacuum distillation unit will be revamped to boost its capacity to 10 MMTPA, with the decommissioning of one 3.5 MMTPA refinery unit each from the original Changling Refining and the original Baling Petrochemical. These measures will substantially enhance the project’s overall efficiency and environmental protection levels, injecting new vitality into Hunan Province’s chemical industry development.