Chinese state-controlled firm PetroChina's under-construction 400,000 b/d Jieyang refinery in south China's Guangdong province is targeting a start-up in the first half of 2022.
The refinery, which faced several issues including foreign investment terms that delayed its progress for a number of years, was originally designed to run Venezuelan crude but this was later modified to process predominantly Middle East crude. Saudi crude is expected to form part of the base-load crude with a likelihood for heavier grades, a PetroChina company source said.
PetroChina added petrochemical units to the 65.4bn yuan ($10bn) project in a revised plan in 2019 to increase the economic viability of the project. These will include 2.6mn t/yr of aromatics production capacity and 1.2mn t/yr of ethylene capacity. The refinery, which is the only new project currently in the company's pipeline, could start test runs by the first quarter of next year, increasing them towards mid-2022. Petrochemical units should follow two or three months after initial trials of the refinery units.
Jieyang has been prompted as a 60:40 joint venture between PetroChina and Venezuela's state-owned PdV but is unlikely to include investment from the latter. The project broke ground as early as 2012 but suspended work until December 2018.
PetroChina is also building a 2mn bl crude terminal with 7.5mn bl of crude storage at Jieyang and a 780,000 bl oil products terminal to serve the refinery. It is expected to yield 206,000 b/d of oil products or a 52pc yield. It will also yield some very-low sulphur fuel oil but volumes are unlikely to be significant.
PetroChina's estimated Yn38bn refining and chemicals capital expenditure budget this year includes the construction of Jieyang, as well as ethane-fed crackers in Xinjiang and Shaanxi, using feedstock from the Tarim and Changqing basins respectively.
