China National Offshore Oil Corporation said on June 15 that it had officially started construction of an integrated petrochemical project in Taizhou, Jiangsu province, with a total investment of nearly 10.2 billion yuan (US$1.6 billion). The new plant would process heavy crude oil pumped from China's Bohai Bay, off north China, the main crude producing area for CNOOC. Construction of the integrated petrochemical complex will be completed and it will be operational by 2015. The project will become a vital base for the production of lubricating base oil for CNOOC, with an annual output of 600,000 tons.

Company officials said the new investment, including 10 main processing facilities, would be on top of an existing plant at the same site that produces mainly asphalt and fuel oil. The project is projected to generate 30 billion yuan (US$4.7 billion) in annual sales. The complex will produce, in addition to lubricating base oil, chemical light oil and refined fuel oil, aromatics, solvent, naphtha, liquefied gas, coke and liquid ammonia. CNOOC Chairman Wang Yilin said the project is an important part of the strategic development plan for China's Pearl River Delta region, Yangtze River Delta region and around the Bohai Bay. CNOOC is operating its first major oil refinery in Huizhou, in southern Guangdong province, with a capacity of 240,000 barrels per day (bpd). CNOOC also plans to add 200,000 bpd of refining capacity in Huizhou by around 2014.