Recent projects and highlights in the petrochemical industry!

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The main equipment of Baling Petrochemical’s first domestic industrial-scale SEPS production facility has been handed over. On August 10, as part of Sinopec’s “Ten Key Technology Projects,” Baling Petrochemical utilized technologies with independent intellectual property rights in constructing this facility—the first domestic plant capable of producing 20,000 tons per year of thermoplastic rubber SEPS (hydrogenated styrene/isoprene copolymer). The main equipment has now been intermediately handed over, marking the transition to the commissioning phase; operations are scheduled to commence at the end of August. Once built and put into operation, this device will fill the gap in SEPS products in China, replace imported products, and enable participation in international competition. SEPS is a high-end, environmentally friendly upgraded version of the thermoplastic elastomer SIS, which has the reputation of being \"green rubber\" as a result of hydrogenation. The SEPS industrialization project established by Baling Petrochemical in its synthetic rubber division involves an investment of over 300 million yuan, and it includes a circulating water unit, a refining unit, a polymerization and hydrogenation unit, a purification unit, a coagulation unit, a post-treatment unit, as well as various supporting auxiliary facilities. The project was constructed by Sinopec Fourth Construction Company, with Balin Petrochemical Engineering Construction Supervision Co., Ltd. handling the supervision tasks. The Balin Petrochemical branch of the General Station for Quality Supervision of Petrochemical Projects was responsible for quality oversight, while Hunan Baili Engineering Technology Co., Ltd. was in charge of the design work. Construction of the main plant began on March 16, 2016, with the framework of the polymerization unit, precipitation unit, and purification unit being completed by the end of July 2016. The Synthetic Rubber Division of Baling Petrochemical, Sinopec Fourth Construction Company’s Huazhong Branch, and other entities have strengthened their cooperation to overcome challenges such as carrying out production alongside construction work and the frequent rainy seasons; they have also ensured strict adherence to construction procedures and standard requirements in terms of HSE and quality control. Before construction, the qualifications of the enterprise and personnel, as well as equipment, raw materials, and construction plans, are all subject to inspection and approval ； During the construction process, each work step, inspection batch, and sub-project/major project is inspected in accordance with the three-level control points set by the Engineering Department of Baling Petrochemicals as well as the \"shutdown points\" specified by the quality supervision station ； A total of 875,000 safety man-hours were accumulated during the HSE construction work, and no safety or environmental pollution incidents occurred. Before the formal handover, in light of the special circumstances related to the remaining construction tasks for the SEPS project, the Synthetic Rubber Division of Baling Petrochemical adopted a new measure of \"preliminary handover\". This involved conducting condition verification checks and preliminary acceptance tests on the facility in advance, so that production preparations could begin immediately once the main installation work was completed. The \"three inspections and four determinations\" process was also initiated early on, to ensure that potential issues and problems were identified and addressed as soon as possible. At present, all the raw materials, auxiliary materials, and personnel required for the commissioning of the SEPS unit are ready. The civil work, equipment installation, piping, electrical instrumentation, and anti-corrosion/insulation work for the main unit have all been completed, and the individual unit tests are essentially finished. It is understood that since SEPS began to be produced on an industrial scale, the supply of its products is monopolized by only one company in the United States and one in Japan; the global annual production and sales volume is around 130,000 tons. Due to the absence of industrialized SIS hydrogenation units in China, all SEPS products in the country rely on imports, with an annual consumption of around 30,000 tons and high prices. In 2009, Baling Petrochemical and the Beijing Research Institute of Chemical Technology collaborated to develop technologies such as hydrogenation catalyst preparation, hydrogenation processes, adhesive purification, and adhesive post-treatment. On this basis, they integrated these technologies to develop a pilot-scale process for the selective hydrogenation of SIS polyisoprene to produce SEPS. The three SEPS product grades developed can be used respectively in optical cable pastes and transparent elastomers. The qualified products produced by the pilot plant have been tested by customers with good results. In 2014, the project \"Development of a Complete Set of Technologies for Hydrogenated Styrene/Isoprene Copolymers\", in which Baling Petrochemical and the Beijing Research Institute of Chemical Technology were involved, was included in Sinopec’s \"Ten Key Technology Projects\" program. Subsequently, the feasibility study report for the project involving an industrial-scale facility capable of producing 20,000 tons of SEPS per year at Baling Petrochemical was approved. Over the past two years, Baling Petrochemical has made breakthrough progress in the industrial production of SEPS; both the hydrogenation degree of SEPS and the content of metal ions in the final product have met the specified criteria, thereby overcoming the key technical obstacles to the industrialization of this product. Jinling Petrochemical’s 2-million-ton-per-year residue hydrogenation unit was successfully commissioned. At 1:00 a.m. on August 6, the unit began producing qualified products, marking a successful commissioning in just one attempt. The commissioning of this set of equipment is of great significance for Jinling Petrochemical to further optimize the plant structure and production processes, improve resource utilization, increase the production of high-value-added products, and enhance the economic efficiency of the enterprise. This is Jinling Petrochemical’s second residue hydrogenation unit, and it is also a key project in the second phase of the oil product quality upgrade and transformation. The commissioning of this facility has further increased the processing capacity for residue, improved the conversion rate of heavy oil, and provided more feedstock for the fluid catalytic cracking unit. At the same time, it has effectively reduced the processing load on the delayed coking unit, thereby further optimizing the product structure and enhancing resource utilization. The 2 million tons per year residue hydrogenation unit officially commenced construction on September 29, 2015, and was completed on May 15, 2017. After a series of preparatory actions such as water transfer and blasting for cleaning, along with thorough inspections and corrective actions, the unit was successfully started for the first time at 13:18 on June 30. Slag oil was successfully blended in at 16:00 on August 5, and qualified products were produced on August 6. The Soil Remediation Center of Sinopec Refining & Chemical Engineering Group was inaugurated at Wujian on August 9. Do a good job in soil remediation to jointly create clear waters and blue skies. The establishment of the Soil Remediation Center at Sinopec Refining & Chemical Engineering Group is a significant step in thoroughly implementing new concepts, ideas, and strategies, as well as in promoting the transformation and development of the group. It is also a means of leveraging the group’s existing resources, optimizing its business structure, and enhancing its brand influence. Furthermore, it plays a key role in accelerating the growth of the soil remediation business and creating new sources of profit for the group. The newly established Soil Remediation Center serves as the core platform for the comprehensive \"technology + engineering\" solutions in the soil remediation business of the Refining and Chemical Engineering Group. It functions as a technical integration platform, a market development platform, and a project coordination platform for carrying out soil remediation activities at the level of this group. In the future, the Soil Remediation Center will adhere to the principles of professional development and market-oriented operation, continuing to carry out independent research and development or by integrating world-leading soil remediation technologies. It aims to develop comprehensive solutions for soil remediation that cover everything from preliminary planning and plan preparation to financing arrangements and project execution. The center also seeks to make breakthroughs in areas such as project management, technological innovation, and capital operation, with the goal of becoming a leader in the soil remediation industry through efforts over three to five years. As the first subsidiary of the group company to enter the soil remediation industry, the Fifth Construction Company has, in recent years, successfully completed three large-scale projects for the remediation of contaminated soil, including at the Beijing Coke Plant. The establishment of a soil remediation center at Wu Jian Company holds significant strategic importance for its development. The company will make every effort to advance market development, technological research and development, and project management in the field of soil remediation, thereby contributing positively to the creation of cleaner waters and skies. All lubricants for the ethylene compressors at Yangzi Petrochemical are now of domestic origin. Following the major maintenance in July this year, the lubricants for the \"three types of machinery\" in the old and new ethylene production units at Yangzi Petrochemical were entirely replaced with domestically produced products from Great Wall Lubricants, which reduced costs by approximately 70%. The “three machines” for ethylene refer to the cracker gas compressor, propylene compressor, and binary refrigeration compressor in an ethylene plant; these three machines are the core equipment of the ethylene plant. Previously, most of the \"three machines\" at Yangzi Ethylene used imported lubricants. To promote the localization of lubricants and reduce costs, Yangzi Petrochemical conducted experiments and was the first to try using domestic lubricants in the cracking gas compressors in its existing facilities. After operating for a long cycle of about 5 years, the compressor has performed well, providing a solid guarantee for the use of domestically produced lubricants in all the \"three types of machinery\" used for ethylene production at Yangzi Petrochemical. The fire intelligence recognition system independently developed by Yanshan Petrochemical has been successfully tested. Recently, the fire intelligence recognition system independently developed by Yanshan Petrochemical was successfully tested. This is a new achievement by the company in the field of intelligent analysis for industrial videos, and it represents a milestone for the company’s development of smart factories in terms of big data and video applications. Liu Yanbo, head of the Management Information Department at Yanshan Petrochemical, explained that the intelligent fire detection system is based on big data analysis and makes use of patented technologies. By continuously collecting data from thousands of video cameras, it can intelligently detect fires and smoke prior to a fire outbreak, accurately locate the site of the fire, and issue audio and visual alerts. So, what are the advantages of intelligent fire detection systems over traditional fire alarm systems? Lu Yuchen from the Software Development Department of the Information Technology Center at Yanshan Petrochemical explained that traditional fire alarm systems work by installing sensors at the front end to detect information such as temperature and smoke, thereby triggering an alarm; moreover, human monitoring of the screens is required to identify a fire. The Yanshan Petrochemical fire intelligent recognition system is based on the existing industrial video network, eliminating the need to add additional front-end sensors. It utilizes computer vision to collect video footage in real time, and through big data analysis, it automatically detects fires, locates the fire site, and triggers an alarm right away. It not only secures valuable time for emergency fire response, but also eliminates the shortcomings and delays associated with traditional manual inspection of industrial video systems, as there is no need for human monitoring. Therefore, the intelligent fire recognition system developed by Yanshan Petrochemical is worth widespread adoption. Lu Yuchen said that in recent years, Yanshan Petrochemical has, in line with the unified plans for the development of intelligent factories set by Sinopec, continuously explored and researched various aspects related to the company’s production and operations as well as safety and environmental protection, in order to improve the level of its intelligent factories. The intelligent inspection system they developed independently adds data analysis capabilities to the routine inspection tasks, allowing for an assessment of the overall operational status of the equipment from a data perspective ； The independently developed intelligent video security application system enables full-process management and real-time monitoring of construction safety; it also includes functions for utilizing historical data and issuing warnings, thereby elevating the level of safety efforts in enterprises ； Yanshan Petrochemical also provides real-time visibility of environmental protection data throughout the whole process, enabling online analysis of flue gas, air, and water, as well as online collection of LDAR (Leak Detection and Repair) data, thus providing intelligent guidance to help the factory quickly become part of the category of urban refineries. It is understood that Beijing Zhongyan Information Technology Co., Ltd. is responsible for the development, implementation, and deployment of this system project. It was formerly known as the Information Technology Development Center of Sinopec’s Beijing Yanshan Branch, and possesses over a decade of experience in building and maintaining information systems for Yanshan Petrochemical. Adhering to the principle of \"customer first, mutual growth,\" the company focuses on areas such as big data, smart factories, cloud computing, the Internet of Things, virtualization, intelligent industrial video applications, and intelligent manufacturing for large petrochemical enterprises, and has achieved significant success in these fields. The 8th (2017) Sinopec Conference on Technological Advances in the Refining and Petrochemical Industries! Yipaike signed strategic cooperation agreements with 27 enterprises. By the end of July, the transaction volume on the Yipaike platform had exceeded 77 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year increase of 575%. According to reports from Sinopec News Network, journalist Tan Weichun reported that on August 8, a ceremony for signing strategic cooperation agreements for the Sinopec Yipaike platform was held in Beijing. Sinopec’s Yipaike platform has signed strategic cooperation agreements with 27 industry-leading enterprises to carry out in-depth collaboration in areas such as procurement, sales, finance, and comprehensive services. To date, the Yipaike platform has established strategic partnerships with 34 companies, and the scale of these collaborations is expected to reach 41 billion yuan. Since the beginning of this year, the variety of products available on Yipaike, as well as the number of orders and the volume of transactions, have all increased exponentially. By the end of July, the transaction volume on the Yipaike platform exceeded 77 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year increase of 575%; the total cumulative transaction volume reached 127 billion yuan ； 1.25 million new products were added, representing a year-on-year increase of 381%, bringing the total number of products available to 1.98 million. Yipaike also collaborates with various financial institutions such as Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Guangfa Bank, and Minsheng Bank to provide supply chain financial services that are fast and convenient, as well as low in cost, for enterprises along the supply chain that have financing needs. The Yipaike Related Party Service Index evaluation system was put into operation on February 17 this year, and to date more than 420 platform partner companies, including China National Heavy Machinery Group and Sany Group, have actively participated in it. Representatives of the cooperating parties, representatives of Sinopec’s related companies, and staff from relevant departments at the headquarters attended the signing ceremony. The construction of the world’s largest coal-to-olefins project has been completed. On August 6, the 120,000-ton-per-year batch high-pressure polyethylene unit at the Zhongtian Hechuang Ordos Coal Deep Processing Demonstration Project, constructed by Sinopec Engineering Construction Co., Ltd., was successfully put into operation after the first feedstock introduction, producing qualified products as planned. It marks the successful completion of the Zhongtian Hechuang project construction. It is reported that since the commencement of construction in November 2014, thanks to the tireless efforts of all project personnel, the 120,000-ton/year batch high-pressure polyethylene plant at Zhongtian Hechuang has completed a series of construction tasks, including the installation of 3,939 meters of underground pipelines, 1,654 tons of steel structures, 246 static equipment units, 163 dynamic equipment units, 97,857 inches of process piping, and 152,000 meters of electrical and instrumentation cables. The plant utilizes EXXON MOBILL autoclave process technology, with a capacity of 120,000 tons per year. This process uses ethylene as the raw material and a mixture of organic peroxides as an initiator; under high temperature and pressure, synthetic resin is produced through the free-radical polymerization of ethylene. The low-density polyethylene products manufactured by this device have a low density, good flexibility, as well as excellent low-temperature resistance and chemical stability. These products are mainly suitable for thermoplastic processing methods such as coating, injection molding, extrusion, blow molding, and thermoforming. The Zhongtian Hechuang project is currently the world’s largest coal-to-olefins project; once completed, the capacity for methanol-to-olefins production will reach 3.6 million tons per year, utilizing the S-MTO technology developed through a partnership between Sinopec Refining & Chemical Engineering and China Petrochemical Corporation. Shenhua invests another 17.15 billion yuan in coal-to-olefins projects; China Shenhua, which is currently on hiatus from operations, continues to take significant actions. On August 8, China Shenhua announced that its upgraded demonstration project for coal-to-olefins production in Baotou had been approved by the Development and Reform Commission of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The main scale of this project is an annual production capacity of 750,000 tons of olefins, with a total investment of around 17.15 billion yuan. China Shenhua stated that it will complete the necessary environmental protection and other related approval procedures in accordance with regulations before the project begins, and that there is uncertainty regarding the start date and construction timeline of the project. The responsible entity for the Upgrading Demonstration Project for Coal-to-Olefins is Shenhua Baotou Coal Chemical Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Baotou Coal Chemical), a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Shenhua. Previously, Baotou Coal Chemical had put into operation a coal-to-olefins plant with an annual production capacity of around 600,000 tons. However, the project was halted in 2013 due to environmental violations. Zhang Xiujuan, an analyst at Zhuochuang, said that competition in the polyolefin industry continues to intensify, and in the long term, there is a high likelihood of downward fluctuations in prices. The huge investment requirements of hundreds of millions of yuan for coal-based olefin production, along with increasing environmental regulations, also deter many companies from pursuing this approach. According to China Shenhua’s announcement, the total investment for this project is approximately RMB 17.15 billion, of which capital funds account for around 30%. The main scale of construction involves a coal-to-olefins plant with an annual production capacity of 750,000 tons, of which 350,000 tons will be polyethylene and 400,000 tons will be polypropylene. Although the project has been approved by the Development and Reform Commission of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, it remains uncertain when construction will actually begin. China Shenhua stated that before the project begins construction, Baotou Coal Chemical will go through the necessary approval procedures related to resource utilization, safe production, and environmental protection in accordance with relevant laws and administrative regulations. The environmental protection and resource utilization for this project shall be carried out in accordance with the approvals provided in the environmental impact assessment report, energy conservation assessment report, and other relevant documents. The start-up and construction timeline for this project is uncertain. Regarding when the upgraded demonstration project for coal-to-olefins will be constructed, a reporter called the secretary office of China Shenhua. The staff member stated that inquiries regarding this matter should be directed to the spokesperson of Shenhua Group. The reporter tried calling the public phone number of Shenhua Group’s spokesperson, but the call was not connected at that time. According to the Shenhua Group’s official website, this project was formerly known as the coal-to-olefins expansion project, and its implementation began in 2014. In July 2015, the site selection study report was approved by the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Department of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. At that time, the total planned investment for the project was 21.44 billion yuan, with a production capacity of 2 million tons per year of coal-to-methanol and 700,000 tons per year of methanol-to-olefins. The project would consume 3.234 million tons per year of coal as a chemical raw material, 1.6456 million tons per year of fuel coal, and 13.448 million cubic meters per year of fresh water. After the project is put into operation, the business tax and value-added tax will amount to 670 million yuan per year. As the main company behind the coal-to-olefins project, Baotou Coal Chemical was established in 2012. In 2013, China Shenhua spent over 9 billion yuan to acquire it from Shenhua Group. At the time of the acquisition, Baotou Coal Chemical’s 600,000-ton coal-to-olefins plant was regarded as the world’s largest coal-to-olefins demonstration project. However, in January 2013, the project was penalized by the Ministry of Environmental Protection for violating the \"three simultaneities\" principle (designing, constructing, and putting environmental protection facilities into use simultaneously with the main project). According to the official website of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, after investigation and verification, the Baotou Coal Chemical Olefin Production Project received approval for environmental impact assessment from the Ministry in March 2005 (Document No. Huan Shen [2005] 270). Trial production began in June 2010, but the environmental protection facilities built as part of this project were not approved by the environmental protection authorities. Baotou Coal Chemical stated that it is taking steps to address the existing issues, promising to complete the environmental protection \"three simultaneities\" inspection by December 2012, and requested to be exempted from penalties. However, Baotou Coal Chemical still had not completed the \"three simultaneities\" acceptance process by the end of December 2012. The Ministry of Environmental Protection has decided to order the Baotou Coal Chemical Olefin Production Project to cease operations and impose a fine of 100,000 yuan. The batch high-pressure polyethylene plant of Zhongtian Hechuang achieved successful commissioning on August 6. The 120,000-ton/year batch high-pressure polyethylene plant as part of Zhongtian Hechuang’s Ordos coal deep-processing demonstration project, which was constructed by the 10th Construction Company of the petrochemical engineering sector, was successfully put into operation with the first batch of feed, producing qualified products. It marks the successful completion of the Zhongtian Hechuang project construction. Since its commissioning in November 2014, the 120,000 tons per year batch-type high-pressure polyethylene plant built by Zhongtian Hechuang has, thanks to the day-and-night efforts of the project team, completed a range of construction tasks including the installation of 3,939 meters of underground pipelines, 1,654 tons of steel structures, 246 static equipment units, 163 dynamic equipment units, process pipelines with a total length of 97,857 inches, as well as 152,000 meters of electrical and instrumentation cables. Given the characteristics of the project site—such as a tight schedule, heavy workload, and numerous confined-space work areas—the Shijian Zhongtian Hechuang Polyethylene Project Division took proactive measures to ensure safety and quality on site. A system of assigning dedicated personnel for quality and safety control was implemented. The construction of high-pressure and ultra-high-pressure pipelines was carried out with “high precision, high efficiency, and high quality,” earning high praise from the owner, general contractor, and supervisor. Ultimately, the goal of achieving “zero defects and zero accidents” during the plant’s startup was successfully met. Hydrogen sulfide leak at Shandong Aoxing Petrochemical results in 2 deaths. According to an official statement from the Public Information Office of Guangrao County, at around 21:30 on August 6, 2017, a hydrogen sulfide leak at Dongying Aoxing Petroleum Chemical Co., Ltd. caused 3 people to be poisoned. At present, 2 people have died despite efforts to save them, and 1 person is under intensive treatment. The cause of the accident is under further investigation. Saudi Aramco plans to invest in CNPC’s refinery in Yunnan; up to $2 billion could be spent to acquire 30% of the shares. According to The Wall Street Journal, Saudi Aramco is currently in talks to acquire a stake in the refining facility owned by CNPC in Anning, Yunnan, and may pay as much as $2 billion to obtain over 30% of shares in that refinery. The Anning Refinery of Yunnan Petrochemical, which is part of CNPC, is located in the CNPC Refining and Chemicals Industrial Park, and it is one of the key supporting facilities for the China-Myanmar oil and gas pipeline. The China-Myanmar oil and gas pipeline project is a pilot project of the Belt and Road Initiative implemented in Myanmar. In May this year, CNPC announced that crude oil from the China-Myanmar Crude Oil Pipeline officially entered China via Ruili, Yunnan. The final destination of this batch of crude oil is Yunnan Petrochemical, located in Anning City, Yunnan Province. To establish an important land-based route for China’s oil and gas imports in the southwest direction, China began construction of the China-Myanmar oil pipeline in 2010. Once completed, imported crude oil will no longer need to pass through the Strait of Malacca, reducing the transportation distance by 1,820 nautical miles and enabling diversification of oil and gas imports. The total investment in China National Petroleum Corporation’s Anning refinery project is 23 billion yuan; it is planned to build an oil refining and processing facility with an annual processing capacity of 10 million tons of crude oil. Upon completion, it will have the capacity to refine 10 million tons of crude oil annually, producing 1 million tons of ethylene and 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year. SABIC and CNPC have been in negotiations over taking a stake in the Yunnan Anning refining project for several years. In 2011, CNPC, Saudi Aramco, and Yunnan’s state-owned chemical enterprise Yuntianhua Group announced that they would jointly invest in the construction of a 10 million tons per year oil refining project in Yunnan, with the aim of addressing the region’s oil shortage and processing crude oil coming from the energy routes in the southwest. In July 2012, the environmental impact assessment for the Yunnan Anning oil refining project was approved by the **Ministry of Environmental Protection**, and in February 2013 it received approval from the **National Development and Reform Commission**; construction then began in Caopu Town, Anning City, Kunming Province. Once the Anning oil refining project in Yunnan is completed, the southwest region will have three large-scale refineries with a production capacity of over 10 million tons each, resulting in a total refining capacity of 39 million tons. The other two refineries are located in Pengzhou, Sichuan, and Qinzhou, Guangxi, respectively. Given the enormous refining capacity of the Yunnan refinery, it will lead to a reshuffle in the distribution pattern of refined oil products in the southwest region. According to the original plan, CNPC would hold 51% of the shares, while Saudi Aramco would hold 39%. SABIC will supply some refining feedstocks to the Yunnan refinery, while Yuntianhua Group will be responsible for purchasing the chemical products produced by the refinery other than refined oil products. The 21st Century Business Herald once quoted Yu Mingxiang, the Party secretary of Yunnan Petrochemical Company, as saying that Saudi Arabia hopes to gain access to CNPC’s downstream sales operations in Yunnan Province through this project, while CNPC is interested in participating in Saudi Aramco’s upstream exploration and development activities. Currently, the two sides are discussing details such as the shareholding ratio, and there are no conflicting interests between them. On August 1, Zhenhai Refining & Chemical Corporation established the \"East Sea Furnace King\" innovation team. Comprising professionals from various fields, this team is dedicated to innovative management of ethylene cracking furnaces as well as the development of a pool of talent for such roles. Its goal is to turn the \"East Sea Furnace King\" into a brand renowned for its operational quality, energy efficiency, intelligence, and environmental sustainability, thus making it a symbol of Zhenhai Refining & Chemical Corporation. Zhenhai Refining & Chemical has 12 ethylene cracker units, with capacities ranging from 100,000 to 200,000 tons per year. Crackers are the most critical equipment in the integrated oil refining and chemical production chain; optimizing these crakers is essential to gaining control over this integration process. Since its commissioning in 2010, Zhenhai Refining & Chemical has consistently adhered to the management philosophy of \"one stability and four optimizations.\" Driven by both management strategies and advanced technology, the performance of its ethylene cracking units has remained at a leading level; the performance evaluations of these units by Solomon Company in the United States have ranked among the best in the world for three consecutive times. Wang Jianbo, deputy chief engineer of Zhenhai Refining & Chemical Co., and head of the Olefins Department, said that the establishment of the \"East China Sea Furnace King Innovation Team\" was aimed at further improving the management level of ethylene production at Zhenhai, as well as cultivating top-tier talent in the field of ethylene cracking furnaces, so that they could serve as a symbol of excellence for Zhenhai Refining & Chemical Co. The new generation of the “Furnace King” team integrates multiple specialties such as process engineering, equipment, instrumentation, electrical systems, and information technology, with the vision of improving the operational management level, informatization level, energy efficiency, and safety and environmental protection performance of cracking furnaces, in order to achieve and maintain a leading position in China. Optimize the pyrolysis furnace using information technology to eliminate empiricism. The team is led by a team leader, with core members and regular members playing a role in mentoring one another. The core members have backup personnel, who in turn have substitutes, thus creating a hierarchical structure within the talent pool to prevent a gap in skills. Sino-Korea Petrochemical successfully completed its first compliance obligation related to carbon emission rights. On August 3, it fulfilled this obligation, with a total volume of 3.019 million tons. In 2016, Zhonghan Petrochemical was officially listed as a carbon emission control enterprise in Hubei Province. As a result, the company took active measures to reduce energy consumption and emissions; by implementing projects such as energy-saving upgrades to boiler feed water pumps, optimizations of the entire plant’s steam system, and energy-saving coatings for the radiation sections of cracking furnaces, it managed to significantly reduce its carbon emissions. On February 23 of this year, the Hubei Provincial Development and Reform Commission allocated to Sino-Korea Petrochemicals an initial quota of 2,476,061 tons for 2016. The amount of carbon emission quotas assigned differed significantly from Sino-Korea Petrochemicals’ actual carbon emissions for that year. As a result, the company contacted the Hubei Provincial Development and Reform Commission to request an adjustment to its quota. In the end, the commission increased Sino-Korea Petrochemicals’ quota by 677,116 tons, worth over 8 million yuan in market value. On August 3, Sino-Korea Petrochemical successfully completed its first set of tasks related to carbon emission compliance, with a compliance volume of 3.019 million tons. The remaining quota is retained through targeted transfers for future compliance efforts, laying a solid foundation for the company’s carbon trading activities. The hydrogenation unit of Panjin Haoye’s 1.2 million tons per year aromatic compounds project was successfully commissioned. On July 26, 2017, after 9 months of intensive construction, the hydrogenation unit of this project, which was overseen by Lansi Heavy Equipment in an EPC capacity, completed all the required tasks including civil engineering work, equipment installation, and the setup of process pipelines, and was thus successfully commissioned. Representatives from Panjin Haoye Chemical Co., Ltd., Lanzhou Lanshi Heavy Equipment Co., Ltd., Luoyang Ruize Petrochemical Engineering Co., Ltd., Panjin Hengxin Construction Project Management Co., Ltd. and other parties attended the project handover ceremony. This hydrogenation unit is one of the key components of Panjin Haoye’s 1.2 million tons per year aromatic compounds project. Since construction began at the end of October 2016, the Lanxi Heavy Equipment Panjin project team, together with all the participating units, worked together to overcome numerous difficulties and successfully achieve the set goals for the project, delivering an excellent result to the client. Construction of installation work for Zhejiang Petrochemical’s 40 million tons/year integrated refining project commenced on August 3. The start of this installation work, carried out by the 10th Construction Company for refining projects, marks the full entry of the project into its installation phase. This project is the largest integrated refining and chemical complex to be built in China. It is located in the Zhoushan Green Petrochemical Base (on Daxiao Yushan Island and surrounding reclamation areas in Daishan County, Zhoushan City), covering an area of about 1,600 hectares. The total capacity of the facility will be 40 million tons per year for oil refining, 10.4 million tons per year for aromatics, and 2.8 million tons per year for ethylene. The total investment required for its construction is around 173 billion yuan, with the project to be carried out in two phases. Shi Jian Company is currently undertaking the refinery and crude oil tank farm installation work for the first phase of this project. The contract value for this project is 968 million yuan, and completion is scheduled for August 30, 2018. Yushan Island is an isolated island with poor transportation access; the only way to get there or leave is by boat. It is 1 hour’s boat ride from Haifeng Port. There are hardly any local residents who work in construction, so all labor forces must be brought in from the mainland. Zhoushan has limited local resources; the procurement and transportation time for machinery, equipment, and auxiliary materials is long, and the prices are higher compared to other cities in China. Zhoushan experiences heavy rainfall, with June and August being the two months with the most precipitation. The area is also windy, with an average of 128 days per year featuring winds of force 5 or above; it is prone to typhoons during the summer and autumn seasons. The Zhejiang Petrochemical Project Department of Shijian is composed of the project management layer and the project execution layer. The project management layer oversees all functions, while the project execution layer includes 3 project branches, namely the Atmospheric and Vacuum Distillation and Residue Hydrogenation Project Branch, the Coking and Wax Oil Hydrogenation Project Branch, and the Storage and Transportation Project Branch. At the commencement ceremony, Li Shuirong, chairman of Zhejiang Petrochemical Engineering Co., Ltd., highly praised the preparatory work carried out by Shijian Company in advance. Wang Cunting, General Manager and Deputy Party Secretary of Shijian Company, said that the project team will firmly uphold a service-oriented mindset and strive to achieve first-class results ； Formulate construction plans scientifically and strictly control the schedule ； Comprehensively strengthen HSE management to ensure safe and civilized construction ； Continuously strengthen quality management and strive to build high-quality projects. Xinyu Chemical’s 450,000-ton/year MTBE plant is set to begin production in August. According to a report by Platts Energy News in Singapore on July 28, sources said that following the trial operations that started this week, Xinyu Chemical Co., Ltd., located in Guangdong province in southern China, is expected to start commercial production at its new 450,000-ton/year MTBE plant by August 20. Market sources say that the MTBE produced by this plant will be mainly sold to the 240,000 barrels per day Huizhou refinery owned by China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) in nearby areas for use in gasoline blending. Some of this MTBE production is likely to be sold to independent gasoline blending companies in southern China. It is reported that the refining capacity of the Huizhou refinery will also be expanded to 440,000 barrels per day by August. The Dagang Commercial Crude Oil Reserve Facility, constructed by Sinopec Fourth Construction Company, has passed the completion inspection. Recently, the Dagang Commercial Crude Oil Reserve Facility in Tianjin, built by the Refining and Chemical Engineering Group’s Fourth Construction Company, completed its completion inspection. It is understood that this inspection was organized by the Engineering Department of the group company, with the construction unit, the user unit, and all parties involved in the project participating throughout the process. The professional acceptance team conducted a thorough and detailed inspection of the site, carried out actual measurements, checked the functional capabilities of the auxiliary production facilities, and sampled the documents provided by all the parties involved in the project. Si Jian Company provided a detailed report on the progress of the project construction. The inspection team determined that the various quality indicators measured on site met the requirements of relevant specifications. The concealed works, based on engineering documents and visual records, satisfied the design and specification requirements. Overall, the project passed the completion acceptance with a qualified quality grade. Si Jian Company completed the construction of the bodies of 13 floating roof tanks with a capacity of 100,000 cubic meters each for this project. Work began in November 2013, completion was achieved in December 2014, and the project was put into operation successfully on January 16, 2015; it has been operating safely to this day. The construction of the 1.2 million tons per year aromatic compounds production facility in the second phase of Panjin Haoye Chemical is being advanced at full speed. The project to build this facility with an annual production capacity of 1.2 million tons of aromatic compounds is seeing active efforts to accelerate work and push forward with construction in order to achieve operational status as soon as possible. At the construction site of the second phase of the Panjin Haoye Chemicals project, which features an annual production capacity of 1.2 million tons of aromatics, the clean and level factory roads sowie the tall equipment all indicate that the main construction work in the designated area of the project has been largely completed. Thanks to the diligent efforts of the 6 construction teams, which work overtime every day, the raw material pretreatment unit of the project has now been built and put into operation. The gasoline hydrogenation unit, storage and distribution areas, as well as the supporting utility systems are in the final stages of installation and testing. Meanwhile, works related to road surfaces and fire safety are also progressing simultaneously; over 60% of all the construction tasks have been completed. The second phase of the Panjin Haoye Chemicals project, with a total investment of 4 billion yuan and an annual production capacity of 1.2 million tons of aromatics, has been under construction since last August. In terms of both investment volume and construction speed, it stands out as one of the most prominent projects in the Panshan area. It is understood that all the products produced in the second-phase project meet China’s highest National V standards, with production volume doubling compared to the current level, which will further enhance the core competitiveness of these products. It is expected that once all projects are completed by the end of this year, they will generate an annual output value of 30 billion yuan, tax revenues of 2 billion yuan, and provide employment for 1,200 people. The China-Russia crude oil pipeline was successfully completed across the Nemoer River. On July 22, the second phase of the China-Russia crude oil pipeline project, constructed by Henan Oil Construction Company, saw successful completion of the crossing of the large river Nemoer River, with connection to the main pipeline achieved. The Nemoer River jacking tunnel is a large-scale river crossing project; a slurry balance jacking machine is used for jacking. The inner diameter of the jacked tunnel is 2.2 meters, and the tubes used for jacking are made of reinforced concrete. The horizontal length of the tube passage through the river is 446 meters. The second phase of the China-Russia crude oil pipeline starts in Mohe County and ends in Daqing City, with a total length of 941.8 kilometers and a pipe diameter of 813 millimeters. There are 4 major river crossings along the pipeline and 7 medium-sized river crossings. The project is expected to be completed in October 2017 and ready for operation. Once the China-Russia Phase II line is completed, together with the Mohe-Dalian line, it will enable an annual crude oil transport capacity of 30 million tons. To ensure the smooth implementation of the tunneling project for the Nemoer River crossing, Henan Oil Construction Company assigned a group of experienced and highly skilled management and technical professionals to form a construction project management team. They developed a detailed construction organization plan, ensured comprehensive coordination and meticulous management, and insisted on carrying out the work in accordance with the drawings, relevant standards and specifications, as well as the construction organization plan. In terms of construction progress, the project team carefully formulates monthly (weekly) work plans and construction tasks, and records accurately the start date, progress, and completion date of each task during construction, providing a basis for the inspection, analysis, adjustment, and summary of plan implementation. In terms of quality control, the project department assigns dedicated quality management personnel to supervise the quality of on-site construction, and implements strict controls over the materials entering the site, ensuring that substandard materials are not allowed to enter or be used. For the key aspects that affect project quality, a dedicated responsibility system is implemented, and an efficient and responsive quality information feedback system has been established to summarize and analyze daily quality management data. In terms of the work process, all records related to concealed works must be signed and approved by relevant inspection units such as the supervision engineer before the next stage of construction can proceed. In terms of safety management, the project team mandates safety training for all employees who enter the construction site, and posts various safety regulations in prominent locations to raise employees’ safety awareness, striving to achieve the HSE goals of zero injuries to personnel and zero environmental damage. Baling Petrochemical has obtained 13 new authorized patents. In the first seven months of this year, Baling Petrochemical received 13 new authorized patents and filed nearly 30 patent applications. To date, the company has filed nearly 700 patent applications, of which 350 have been granted, thereby strongly promoting technological innovation within the enterprise and enhancing its competitiveness. The 13 new authorized patents acquired by the company relate to 6 directly affiliated units; specifically, they pertain to the Refining Division’s \"A dual-tangential circumferential feed distributor\"” ； The Synthetic Rubber Division’s “A polyisocyanate prepolymer coupling agent and its preparation method”, “An end-group modified solubilized styrene-butadiene copolymer and its preparation method and application”, “A hydrogenation catalyst and its preparation method”” ； The epoxy resin division’s “A method for synthesizing o-cresol aldehyde epoxy resin using a cosolvent and recovering the cosolvent”, “A method for synthesizing o-cresol aldehyde epoxy resin with minimal side reactions”, “An aqueous epoxy antistatic floor coating topcoat and its preparation method”” ； The Fertilizer Business Unit’s “A new-type structure for crude gas heaters”, “A new oil seal device for safety-enhanced motor end-cap type spherical sliding bearings”” ； The caprolactam business unit’s “a desalination device for crude alcohols and related materials”, “a device for removing sodium salts from crude alcohols and related materials”, “a method for reducing the relative viscosity of polyamides during melt processing”” ； \"A method for recovering residual latex in SEPS production\" by the Analysis and Testing Center. Over the years, Baling Petrochemical has filed patent applications related to its core business activities, thereby promoting the institutionalization and legalization of technological innovation achievements. Over the past 5 years, the company has filed more than 40 patents per year and been granted more than 20 patents. Coordination efforts are underway for Gansu’s 1.6 million-ton coal-to-olefins project. On October 19, 2016, Yumen City in Gansu and Zhonghuiyang Co., Ltd. officially signed an investment intent agreement for the 2×800,000-ton coal-to-olefins project. The total investment in this project exceeds 20 billion yuan; it will be built in the Laojunmiao Industrial Park. The construction period is 3 years, the area covered is 10,000 mu, and the planned annual production capacity is 1.6 million tons of coal-derived olefins. The project will play an important role in further developing and strengthening the modern coal chemical industry in Yumen City, increasing the scale of industrial clustering and the degree of industrial interconnection, extending the industrial chain, and enhancing the industry’s competitiveness. On April 10, 2017, Zhonghuiyang Group Co., Ltd. signed an agreement with ** in Qujing City, Yunnan Province, to invest in the construction of a project capable of producing 800,000 tons per year of coal-based olefins and 3 billion cubic meters per year of coal-based gas. The total investment for the project is 40 billion yuan, with construction carried out in two phases: 25 billion yuan is invested in the first phase and 15 billion yuan in the second phase. (Compiled by Shihua Yuan; please indicate the source when reproducing)