Sinopec has ethylene aim

CHINA Petroleum & Chemical Corp, Asia's biggest refiner, plans to start operating its 21-billion-yuan (US$2.7 billion) ethylene plant in the country's north by the end of September 2009.

The move is to meet rising domestic demand, Bloomberg News reported.

The ethylene cracker will use technology jointly developed by Sinopec, as China Petroleum is known, and ABB Lummus Global, a unit of the world's largest builder of electricity networks, parent company China Petrochemical Corp said in its newsletter yesterday.

Saudi Basic Industries Corp said in March it has taken a stake in the Tianjin plant, without giving the size.

Sinopec is among Chinese chemical makers that are expanding output as they sell more of their products for use in auto parts, packaging and plastics.

China will account for 25 percent of global chemical demand by 2015, according Exxon Mobil Corp.

"The cracker will be Sinopec's first one-million-ton ethylene production facility," China Petrochemical said in the statement.

Saudi Arabia's Sabic, as the world's biggest chemical maker by market value is known, will invest US$1 billion in Sinopec's Tianjin ethylene plant, it was reported on June 11.