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On January 11, the 3.4 million tons per year disproportionation unit of Daxie Petrochemical’s Phase IV project began producing qualified products, marking a partial success in the commissioning of Daxie Petrochemical’s aromatic compounds production complex. This disproportionation unit is a supporting component of the aromatic compounds processing complex within the Daxie Petrochemical’s distillate oil comprehensive utilization project. By utilizing disproportionation and alkylation transfer techniques, it converts aromatic compounds with lower added value – such as toluene and C9/C10 aromatic hydrocarbons – into benzene and xylene products with higher added value, all under conditions of hydrogen presence and the action of catalysts. In addition, this disproportionation unit features an efficient flue gas waste heat recovery system, achieving an overall thermal efficiency of 95% for the heating furnace. During the design process, the Daxie Petrochemical disproportionation unit employed a recontact process for the disproportionation off-gas to remove most of the benzene and other heavier components present in this gas, thereby extending the service life of the adsorbents in the pressure swing adsorption unit and reducing the operating costs of the facility. The wax oil hydrocracking unit at Huizhou Petrochemical achieved successful commissioning on the first attempt. On January 11, good news came from the site of the wax oil hydrocracking unit at CNOOC Huizhou Petrochemical Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Huizhou Petrochemical”). The unit, with an annual production capacity of 1.6 million tons, was able to operate across its entire process successfully, in a safe and high-quality manner, marking a successful start for 2023. This success indicates that the various units involved in Huizhou Petrochemical’s projects aimed at optimizing its product portfolio and improving product quality are gradually entering phase of operation. It is understood that the Huizhou petrochemical products structure optimization and quality improvement project was initiated by Huizhou Petrochemical to balance the materials flow within the plant, diversify the product portfolio, and accelerate transformation and upgrading, all while maintaining the existing crude oil processing capacity of 22 million tons per year. This project includes production facilities such as a 1.6 million tons per year hydrocracking unit, a 1.5 million tons per year aromatics complex, and a 1.3 million tons per year continuous reforming unit, in addition to utility systems and supporting auxiliary facilities. The project commenced construction on December 10, 2018, in accordance with the approved plans, and it is expected to generate an annual output value of 15 billion yuan once it reaches full production capacity. On August 24, 2022, the gasoline etherification unit was put into operation. Huizhou Petrochemical began producing VIB gasoline, which was supplied to the South China region to better meet the demand for clean energy ； On October 26, 2022, the hydrocracking unit successfully passed the intermediate handover inspection. On November 29, 2022, the project successfully passed the mechanical completion inspection and acceptance. Since the construction of Huizhou Petrochemical’s wax oil hydrocracking unit began, the project team responsible for upgrading the structure and quality of Huizhou Petrochemical’s products has carried out regular grid-based safety inspections. Through systematic planning and coordinated efforts by the relevant functional departments, close cooperation has been maintained ； A steering group led by top experts was established, while the role of the \"dual-core\" team was fully utilized. The project team, experts in charge of commencement, and the production preparation department got involved early on in the construction process and quality inspections. Together with all the participating units, they worked hard for over 500 days to ultimately ensure that the facility was delivered to high standards. After the connection in the plant, Department 6 of Huizhou Petrochemical carried out production preparation tasks such as pipeline purging, individual unit testing, airtightness testing, and integrated testing to high standards, ensuring a smooth start-up of the plant. Ultimately, the entire process was successfully operationalized, achieving a successful first start-up and the production of qualified products. A responsible official from Huizhou Petrochemical said that going forward, the company will carefully summarize the experience gained from starting up the wax oil hydrocracking unit, ensuring its operation in a safe, stable, efficient, and optimal manner. It will also continue to work on bringing other units online in the next phase of quality improvement projects, leveraging its industrial advantages to contribute to the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and helping CNOOC become a world-class energy company with Chinese characteristics.