Thread Content
“The first batch of imported oil has arrived. ”At the Shenghong Petrochemical tank farm in Xuwei New Area, a relevant official from Shenghong Petrochemical happily told this reporter that this means Shenghong Petrochemical is one step closer to commencing operations. The Shenghong refining and chemical integration project has a total investment of 67.7 billion yuan, with a crude oil processing capacity of 16 million tons per year, an aromatics processing capacity of 2.8 million tons per year, and an ethylene production capacity of 1.1 million tons per year. Supporting facilities include wharf storage and transportation projects, public auxiliary projects, and environmental protection projects. Xu Binsan, director of the Municipal Major Projects Office, explained that once completed, this project will not only help to promote the adjustment and upgrading of the industrial structure, break foreign monopolies over the market for high-end petrochemical products, and enhance China’s influence in the international petrochemical industry; it will also meet the demand for oil products and petrochemicals in Jiangsu and the Yangtze River Delta region, alleviate the shortage of existing chemical raw materials, and accelerate the adjustment and upgrading of the petrochemical industry’s structural layout within the province. In addition, relying on the petrochemical base and taking integrated refining and chemical processing projects as the core, the downstream olefin industry chain, aromatic hydrocarbon industry chain, chemical new materials sector, and fine chemicals industry chain develop in coordination, thereby driving the transformation and upgrading of industries such as chemicals and new materials in our city and enhancing its competitiveness and influence at the national level. The most important raw material for the Shenghong refining and chemical integration project is oil. To ensure that the enterprise can start operations on schedule, helping Shenghong Refining and Chemical to obtain the qualifications for crude oil imports has become a key task in our city’s efforts to advance major projects. It is understood that China implements an administrative licensing system for the use of imported crude oil. For enterprises to use imported crude oil, they must obtain approval from the **National Development and Reform Commission** and apply to the Ministry of Commerce for the permitted import volume. To ensure the project’s commissioning on schedule, the Municipal Development and Reform Commission began researching the procedures for applying to import crude oil as early as the project’s start in 2018; in April 2020, our city assisted Shenghong Refining & Chemical in officially initiating those application procedures. A relevant official from the Municipal Development and Reform Commission explained that during the application period, our city took the initiative to assist enterprises in understanding the application process, thereby accelerating their application efforts. Thanks to the diligent efforts and representations made by various provincial and municipal departments, on September 1 this year, the **Development and Reform Commission approved the project’s eligibility to import crude oil. On October 11, the Ministry of Commerce authorized the project to import 2 million tons of crude oil this year. With the approval of the project’s qualifications and quotas, Shenghong Refining & Chemicals has obtained the permission and quotas to use imported crude oil, which provides crucial support for the company’s future operations as well as its subsequent production and business activities. It will also help our city improve the upstream and downstream industrial chains in the petrochemical sector, develop a petrochemical industry cluster along the port, foster strategic emerging industries, provide strong impetus, and offer solid support. A relevant official from Shenghong Refining and Chemicals said that at present, all the equipment for each phase of the project has been purchased, and equipment installation is currently in progress. As of the end of November, the construction of pile foundations and the laying of primary underground pipelines for the project have been largely completed. A total of 2.08 million cubic meters of civil engineering work has been carried out, and 8,513 pieces of equipment have been installed. The first batch of units—including the 16-million-ton atmospheric and vacuum distillation unit, the delayed coking unit, and the integrated sulfur recovery unit—have all been fully installed. The project reached mechanical completion on June 30, and it is scheduled to begin oil feedstock loading and startup at the end of December. The accompanying 300,000-ton crude oil terminal passed the completion inspection on June 8. Currently, the first set of driving equipment is under debugging, striving to meet the target of going into operation by the end of the year.