On May 19, 2023, the CNOOC Shell Huizhou Phase III Ethylene Project officially started construction in Daya Bay, Huizhou, Guangdong.

China Shipping Shell Phase III Project

It is reported that the CNOOC Shell Huizhou Phase III ethylene project has a planned total investment of about 52.1 billion yuan, and plans to invest in a total of 18 sets of chemical production equipment, public works and supporting facilities including 1.6 million tons/year ethylene cracking unit and downstream. The ethylene cracking unit is one of the largest cracking units in the world. The project will also build a world-scale polyolefin unit and a high-end polyether polyol unit, and introduce the production of α-olefins, synthetic alcohols and synthetic lubricants for the first time in Asia and China. New technology in oil base stocks.

After the project is completed and put into operation, the overall ethylene production capacity of CNOOC and Shell will reach 3.8 million tons per year. After post-production and processing, CNOOC and Shell can provide the market with a total of more than 11 million tons of petrochemical products every year.

Yu Jin, deputy general manager of CNOOC, said that the start of the Phase III project of CNOOC and Shell is another vivid practice of CNOOC to thoroughly implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, actively carry out international exchanges and cooperation, and help promote Chinese-style modernization. It will make an important contribution to Huizhou's development of petrochemical new energy and new materials trillion-level industrial clusters and Daya Bay's construction of a world-class green petrochemical industry highland.

Hai Bo, member of the Shell Group Executive Committee, said that Shell Group has established a strategic partnership with CNOOC for many years, and Guangdong has an excellent investment environment. He is proud to contribute to the development of Guangdong and Huizhou through CNOOC and Shell.

The cooperation between CNOOC and Shell dates back to 2000 and is one of the largest Sino-foreign joint venture projects in China. In November 2002, the first-phase 800,000-ton/year ethylene project of CNOOC and Shell with a joint investment of US$4.3 billion entered the implementation stage, becoming the largest Sino-foreign joint venture project in China at that time. After it was completed and put into operation in January 2006 and its production capacity was increased in December 2012, its annual output of ethylene exceeded 1 million tons. In December 2014, the construction of the second-phase 1.2 million tons/year ethylene project of China Shipping and Shell with a total investment of about 4.9 billion US dollars started, and it was completed and put into operation in April 2018. With the completion and commissioning of the first and second phases of the project, CNOOC Shell has become one of the largest monomer ethylene production plants in operation in China so far. It mainly produces olefins and other derivatives as basic chemical raw materials to supply the market, and provides customers with high-quality and excellent services. Products are widely used in agriculture, industry, construction, medicine and consumer goods and other fields.

On the basis of the first and second phases of CNOOC and Shell, CNOOC once again joined hands with Shell Group to invest in the third phase of the ethylene project, each holding 50% of the shares. The two parties signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the Huizhou petrochemical and chemical project in October 2018. The Phase III project of China Shipping and Shell is in line with the strategic layout of the national petrochemical industry. In February 2019, it was included in the second batch of national major foreign investment projects, and in April 2022 it was officially included in the national plan. Until March 2023, a preliminary investment agreement totaling 52.1 billion yuan will be signed. Editor/He Yuting