CNPC to boost ethylene production in Xinjiang

China National Petroleum Corp vows to further step up the ethylene production in its Dushanzi petrochemical plant located in China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and come up with more high-end characteristic refining products.

As the largest integrated refining and chemical project in China equipped with world-leading technologies, the Dushanzi petrochemical plant has recently achieved an annual ethylene production capacity of up to two million tons with its ethylene plant put into operation in late August.

With a total investment of more than eight billion yuan ($1.24 billion), the project will also take advantage of abundant local natural gas from China National Petroleum Corp's Tarim oil field, it said.

The ethylene plant is CNPC's largest single investment in southern Xinjiang.

Dushanzi Petrochemical is capable of processing 10 million tons of crude and producing 1.22 million tons of ethylene a year, said the company, which is comprised of nine refining units and 12 chemical plants. On September 21, 2009, the entire units became operational.

The country's largest oil and gas company also aims to further step up oil production in Tarim oil field in Xinjiang to ensure sufficient energy supply, while also come up with a new energy research institute to focus on technologies including carbon capture utilization and storage, taking advantage of the company's upstream and downstream integration, it said.