CNPC’s Xinjiang Chemicals Project Begins

(Beijing) - CNPC Urumqi Petrochemical Co.'s biggest investment to date, a large-scale aromatic hydrocarbon production project, was opened on July 19 in Xinjiang. CNPC Urumqi is a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC).

The project, which involves an investment of 3.7 billion yuan, includes the annual production of 100 million tons of para-xylene aromatic hydrocarbon, the largest of its kind in the world.  
The project first won approval from the National Development and Reform Commission in May 2006 and started construction in 2008. Previously, CNPC Urumqi had a 55,000 ton aromatic hydrocarbon production capacity.

According to Xue Yuan, director of the Production Technology Department of CNPC Urumqi, 50 percent of the production from the project will be sold in Xinjiang and Central Asian countries including Kazakhstan.

Aromatic hydrocarbon products are widely used in industries like automobiles, electronics, and machinery.

The project is a key part of CNPC's ambitious development strategy in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. In late 2009, another CNPC subsidiary in Xinjiang, Dushanzi Petrochemical, began the production of an oil refining project with a capacity of 10 million tons a year, and an ethylene project with an annual capacity of 1.2 million tons.

CNPC Urumqi is set to raise its oil refining capacity to 10 million tons from the current 6 million tons, while focusing on the development of aromatic hydrocarbon production in the future. Last year, CNPC general manager Jia Jiemin said that CNPC Urumqi's future focus will be oil refining, fertilizer and aromatics.

In 2008, CNPC Urumqi processed 6 million tons of crude oil and produced 1.1 million tons of urea, 150,000 tons of synthetic fiber as well as 60 kinds of petrochemical products.