The biggest China-based refiner of the country the China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., commonly known as ‘Sinopec’, has begun work on a US $ 1.98 billion ethylene plant. The plant is being set up in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province to meet ever increasing demand from the region.

　　Sinopec is an integrated energy and chemical company with upstream and downstream operations.

　　The plant has a capacity to produce 80000 tons of ethylene per year and is expected to be completely operational by 2010. The company has invested in the most advanced technologies to meet the pollution control norms of the government and thereby gained approval from the National Development & Reform Commission.

　　The new plant is expected to help increase the capacity of oil refining and petrochemical downstream in the region. To meet the raw material requirements of the project Sinopac is doubling its oil refining capacity.