BP, Sinopec And Shanghai Petrochemical form chemical joint venture
10 Dec 2001
BP, Sinopec and Shanghai Petrochemical Corporation (SPC) today held a celebratory reception in Beijing to mark the formation of the joint venture company that will build a $2.7 billion ethylene cracker and chemical derivatives complex near Shanghai.
Shanghai Secco Petrochemical Company Ltd (SECCO) will build the world-scale complex, expected to begin operation in 2005, at Shanghai Chemical Industry Park, Caojing, near Shanghai.
The formation of the company - owned by BP (50 per cent), Sinopec Corporation (30 per cent) and SPC (20 per cent) - follows the final approval for the joint venture by the Chinese authorities with the granting of a business licence by the Administration of Industry and Commerce.
According to a statement, the SECCO complex will comprise a 900,000 tonnes a year naphtha-fed ethylene cracker and downstream derivative petrochemical plants, with combined polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene production of more than one million tonnes a year, and world-scale styrene, acrylonitrile and other olefins derivatives units.
Output will total almost 2.3 millions tonnes of product a year.
SECCO will now tender for design and construction contracts with the aim of breaking ground in the first half of 2002.
