Today, Huajin Aramco Petrochemical Company (HAPCO) officially broke ground on a huge integrated refinery and petrochemical complex. The complex is being built in the city of Panjin, which is located in China's Liaoning Province, by a joint venture between Aramco (30%), NORINCO Group (51%), and Panjin Xincheng Industrial Group (19%).
The facility was anticipated to be completely operational by 2026, according to a statement made on March 26. Up to 210,000 barrels of crude oil feedstock per day (bpd) from Aramco are anticipated to be supplied to the project.
Hao Peng, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Liaoning Provincial People's Congress, Li Lecheng, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and Governor of the Liaoning Provincial Government, Liu Shiquan, Chairman of Norinco Group, Wang Bingsen, Secretary of the Panjin Municipal Party Committee, and Zou Wenc were among those present at the groundbreaking ceremony.
"This complex is a cornerstone of our efforts to support a world-class, integrated downstream sector here in China, as petrochemicals will play a crucial role in our joint success," said Mohammed Y. Al Qahtani, Aramco Executive Vice President of Downstream, in a speech at the occasion. Once completed, we think HAPCO will serve as a benchmark for China's contemporary petrochemicals sector going forward, providing sophisticated materials, chemicals, and products with smaller carbon footprints.
Aramco also disclosed on March 27 that it has inked agreements to buy a 10% stake in Rongsheng Petrochemical Co. Ltd., which is listed in Shenzhen, for RMB 24.6 billion ($3.6 billion at the time of writing). In accordance with its ambition to convert four million bpd of crude to chemicals by 2030, Aramco would supply a total of 690,000 bpd of crude to high chemical conversion assets in China through its collaboration with Rongsheng and the HAPCO joint venture.