Dubai, UAE — A ground-breaking ceremony took place today for a major integrated refinery and petrochemical complex being developed by Huajin Aramco Petrochemical Company (HAPCO).
The joint venture between Aramco (30 percent), NORINCO Group (51 percent) and Panjin Xincheng Industrial Group (19 percent) is developing the complex in the city of Panjin, in China’s Liaoning Province.
On March 26, it was announced that the complex was expected to be fully operational by 2026. Aramco is expected to supply up to 210,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil feedstock to the facility.
On March 27, Aramco also announced it had signed definitive agreements to acquire a 10 percent interest in Shenzhen-listed Rongsheng Petrochemical for RMB 24.6 billion ($3.6 billion).
Combined, the partnership with Rongsheng and the HAPCO joint venture would see Aramco supply a total of 690,000 bpd of crude to high chemical conversion assets in China, in line with its strategy of converting four million bpd of crude to chemicals by 2030.
Among those attending the ground-breaking ceremony were Abdulrahman Alharbi, Saudi Ambassador to China; Hao Peng, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Liaoning Provincial People’s Congress.
Aramco Executive Vice President of Downstream Mohammed Y. Al Qahtani said at the event, “Once complete, we believe HAPCO will be a model for China’s modern petrochemicals industry moving forward, able to deliver lower carbon products, chemicals, and advanced materials.”