Construction of CNPC's Joint Venture Refinery with Venezuela Kicks Off in Guangdong

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Following the receipt of final approval from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) at the beginning of April 2012, construction of China National Petroleum Corporation's (CNPC) (Beijing) 400,000-barrel-per-day (BBL/d) joint venture oil refinery project with Venezuela officially kicked off in the Dananhai International Petrochemical Comprehensive Industrial Park of Huilai district, Jieyang city in South China's Guangdong province on April 27, 2012. Wang Yang, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and secretary of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee, Zhu Xiaodan, governor of Guangdong province, among other leaders and representatives, attended the ceremony.

The project is the first downstream project in the petrochemical complex, a large-scale refining and chemical integrated project, mainly consisting of a 400,000-BBL/d refinery and a 1-million-ton-per-year ethylene plant, jointly invested by the CNPC (60%) and Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) (40%). This will be the largest oil refinery in China designed to be built in one time. Along with the refinery, a 50,000 refined products port, a 300,000-ton crude oil port and a 600,000-ton crude oil storage facility, as well as the pipeline between the port and the refinery, will also be built in the initial stage, requiring a total investment of about $9 billion. According to the arrangement, the project will be mainly used to process heavy crude oil imported from Venezuela.

The Refining Planning Institute of China Petroleum Planning Engineering Institute (CPPEI), a support organization for decision-making directly under PetrocChina Company Limited (NYSE:PTR) (Beijing) , the listed flagship of the CNPC, is responsible for the pre-stage preparation of the project.

As reported, major products of the project will be vehicle fuels such as gasoline, jet fuel and diesel. All products will comply with Euro-IV standards or higher. According to the schedule, the project will begin operation by December 31, 2014.

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