Local manufacturing for petrochemical equipment

China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) may be issuing a policy for more petrochemical equipment to be made locally, China Daily revealed.

Quoting Zhao Zhiming, the executive vice-president of the China Petroleum and Petrochemical Equipment Industry Association, China Daily reported the top economic regulator has drafted a policy that requests for 75% of all major petrochemical equipment to be produced by Chinese companies during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan.

According to sources, the draft document has been distributed to major petrochemical producers, for instance, CNPC and Sinopec, the latter having confirmed its reception of the document.

If the new policy comes into being, China will not be as dependent on overseas production, and the cost of purchasing the equipment will also be "substantially less", China Daily said. Zhao said local major petrochemical equipment would cost only one third to half that of foreign-made equipment.

In a report by Shanghai Securities News, the draft document calls for equipment that can be produced domestically to be made by Chinese companies, while the manufacture of equipment that would require international technology and expertise must be based on win-win cooperation with overseas firms.

Zhao said Chinese firms will still have to cooperate with foreign partners in the construction of large-scale petrochemical crackers, even though China has made breakthroughs in one-million-ton petrochemical crackers manufacturing.

Currently, most refining equipment and petrochemical crackers can be produced domestically, China Daily reported.

The NDRC was not available for comment.