Sinopec Becomes World's Largest SBC Producer

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--In mid-August, the total production capacity of styrene butadiene block copolymer (SBC) of China Petroleum Corporation (Beijing), the holding company of China Petroleum & Chemical Company Limited (NYSE:SNP) (Sinopec) (Beijing) and one of the top-three oil giants in China, reached 410,000 metric tons per year, surpassing the output of 405,000 metric tons per year of Kraton Polymers LLC (Houston, Texas), a leading global producer of engineered polymers. Sinopec is now the largest SBC producer in the world, the company announced on August 21, 2009, on its website.

As reported, Sinopec's market share of SBC in China was about 61% in the first seven months of this year. Sinopec currently has three subsidiaries engaged in the production of SBC: Baling Petrochemical Company (Yueyang, Hunan), Yanshan Petrochemical Company (Beijing) and Maoming Petrochemical Company (SHE:000637) (Maoming). The annual production capacity of these companies is 220,000 metric tons, 100,000 metric tons and 90,000 metric tons, respectively. Baling Petrochemical possesses a 200,000-metric-ton-per-year SBS device, which is the largest device of its kind in the world. This device expanded its annual production capacity from 150,000 metric tons to 200,000 metric tons in July this year.

As a polymer with characteristics of both rubber and plastic, SBC is widely used in shoemaking, bitumen modification, and the manufacture of various glues and sealants.

SBC production has experienced rapid development in China in recent years. Presently, there are about 10 SBC producers in China with a total annual production capacity of 710,000 metric tons. Among the three SBC producers under Sinopec, Baling Petrochemical can produce styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS), styrene-isoprene-styrene (SIS) and styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene (SEBS) block copolymers; Yanshan Petrochemical and Maoming Petrochemical are capable of producing SBS products. The scope of SBC products from Baling Petrochemical has been widely expanded from a few types to nearly 50. To date, Baling Petrochemical has seven SBS post-processing production lines capable of producing up to seven different SBS products at the same time.

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