CNPC Finishes 300,000-Ton Lubricating-Oil Project

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) announced that its company in Karamay City (Xinjiang, Uygur Autonomous Region) recently finished its No. 2 lubricating-oil unit, doubling the company's capacity to 600,000 tons a year and making CNPC China's biggest naphthenic lube-oil production base.

In early October, Karamay Petrochemical Company completed the 300,000-ton-per-annum (TPA) lubricating-oil high-pressure hydrogenation unit, a 800,000-TPA propane de-asphalting unit and a 4,000-TPA sulfur-recycling unit.

The 300,000-TPA lubricating-oil high-pressure hydrogenation unit enables the company to produce 600,000 tons of naphthenic lube oil.

Construction for the $68.4 million lubricating-oil unit began in early 2005. The factory was put into a trial run this July, during which its KNH4006 rubber oil, KNH4010 rubber oil, 150BS bright oil and other naphthenic base lube oil products all reached standards.

Naphthenic crude oil, raw material from which people make naphthenic lube oil, is a rare material, accounting for only 2.2% of the world's total crude oil deposit. The U.S., China and Venezuela are a few of the countries that have the rare resource.

Besides the lubricating-oil unit, Karamay's sulfur-recycling unit raises the company's processing ability from 1,500 tons a year to 5,000 tons a year and the equipment's efficiency to 99.8%. The propane de-asphalting unit raises the factory's capacity to 1 million tons a year.

Established in 1959 after the discovery of Karamay Oilfield, Karamay Petrochemical has become China's biggest heavy oil processing, heavy-duty road asphalt and low-freezing diesel production base. The quality and quantity of its lubricating oil, rubber oil, bright oil, refrigeration oil and heavy-duty road asphalt rank first in China. It became a CNPC subsidiary in 2001, producing 5 million tons of products a year.

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