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On April 2, the groundbreaking ceremony for the preliminary works of the China-Saudi Arabia Gulei Ethylene Project was held in the Gulei Development Zone in Zhangzhou, Fujian Province, marking a significant breakthrough for this project. The Zhongsha Gulei ethylene project is the largest Sino-foreign joint venture project in Fujian Province to date, jointly funded by Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), Fujian Energy and Petrochemical Group, and Zhangzhou Jiulong River Group. The construction includes a world-class ethylene plant with an annual production capacity of 1.5 million tons, as well as downstream processing facilities; the total investment amounts to 42.07 billion yuan, and it is estimated that the project will generate an annual output value of around 34 billion yuan once it is operational. The preliminary works for the already underway Shazha Gulei ethylene project involve a total investment of 1.1 billion yuan. The work includes site grading, construction of fencing, establishment of an IPMT (Integrated Project Management Department), construction of main roads and auxiliary roads within the plant area, as well as the installation of primary pipelines and internal plant pipelines. These efforts will lay a solid foundation for the commencement of the main production facilities within this year. I. Main construction contents of the project According to the environmental impact assessment document published on February 28, 2022, regarding the Zhongsha Gulei ethylene project, it can be seen that: 1. Multiple facilities will be constructed. The main components of this project include ethylene production, with an annual capacity of 1.5 million tons; downstream products include ethylene-based items such as epoxyethane/ethylene glycol with an annual production capacity of 100,000/1 million tons, HDPE with a capacity of 400,000 tons, mLLDPE/HDPE with a capacity of 600,000 tons, and hexene-1 with a capacity of 50,000 tons. Propylene and downstream products – Downstream of propylene, 400,000 tons per year of polypropylene (impact/resin-free) and 550,000 tons per year of polypropylene (homopolymer/resin-free) are planned to be produced. Additionally, downstream of propylene, plans are in place to build facilities for the production of 250,000/150,000 tons per year of phenol propionate, 270,000 tons per year of bisphenol A, and 290,000 tons per year of polycarbonate. In addition, facilities for 910,000 tons per year of pyrolysis gasoline hydrogenation (including styrene extraction), 220,000 tons per year of butadiene extraction, 56,000 tons per year of butene-1 production, and 570,000 tons per year of aromatic extraction have also been built. 2. Adoption of multiple advanced technologies: The project has incorporated 19 globally leading process technologies, among which 4 patented technologies from SABIC are introduced in China for the first time. The project uses low-pressure gas-phase fluidized bed technology to produce mLLDPE/HDPE, a slurry process to produce bimodal HDPE, an ethylene oligomerization process to produce hexene-1, a gas-phase fluidized bed process to produce homopolymer/random polypropylene, and a gas-phase horizontal stirred bed process to produce impact-resistant polypropylene. The project will make full use of the geographical advantages of the Gulei petrochemical base, as well as its excellent conditions in terms of ports, land, and environmental capacity. Building on the existing PX and PTA facilities from the Tenglong Xianglu project, it will establish a joint venture with internationally renowned petrochemical companies to construct an ethylene cracking plant with an annual capacity of 1.5 million tons. This plant will be able to produce nearly 2.4 million tons of low-carbon olefins, thereby enabling the development of several downstream processing industry chains of considerable scale and distinct characteristics. An industrial cluster will be formed, based on three major synthetic materials and basic organic raw materials, with specialty chemical products and high-end specialized chemicals as its key features. 3. Joint management through strong partnerships: By forming joint ventures with internationally renowned petrochemical companies to build ethylene and its downstream derivative processing facilities, it is possible to make full use of the advanced technologies, extensive experience in production and operation management, as well as financial resources available to those companies. This approach enables a combination of strengths, thereby addressing the limitation of Fujian Petrochemical Group in terms of its ability to independently develop and operate large-scale petrochemical projects. As part of the **third batch of key projects for major foreign investment** and a key project under the second round of China-Saudi Arabia cooperation in capacity and investment, this project was established through a joint venture between SABIC, Fujian Energy Chemical Group, and Zhangzhou Jiulongjiang Group, with shareholdings of 51%:25%:24% respectively. II. Main milestones of the project: The project was launched in 2017 ； On August 16, 2019, the Zhangzhou Gulei Development Zone website published the \"First Information Disclosure on Public Participation in the Environmental Impact Assessment for the Fujian Gulei 1.5 million tons per year ethylene and downstream processing complex project.\" In September 2020, significant progress was made on this project: the Zhongsha Gulei ethylene project will be constructed at the Gulei Petrochemical Complex in Fujian. With a total investment of over 40 billion yuan, the plant’s capacity to produce 1.5 million tons of ethylene per year makes it the largest of its kind in the world. A number of key technologies will also be introduced to fill gaps in this industry ； At the investment promotion conference held in Zhangzhou on April 2, 2021, a series of projects aimed at strengthening, complementing, and extending industrial chains by Fujian Petrochemical Group (Phase I) were signed for implementation in the Gulei Development Zone. In 2021, Fujian Petrochemical Group focused its efforts on the Gulei Petrochemical Complex, aiming to advance the Sino-Saudi Gulei ethylene project and strive to have it implemented within that year ； In August 2021, SABIC signed a joint venture agreement with Fujian Petrochemical Group Co., Ltd. Under the contract, the two parties will establish a joint venture with a 51:49 shareholding structure after obtaining approval from the relevant Chinese regulatory authorities. The company plans to invest 40 billion yuan (approximately $6.15 billion) to build and operate a world-class large-scale petrochemical complex at the Gulei Petrochemical Complex in Fujian Province, China ； On February 28, 2022, a public notice was issued regarding the public consultation process for the environmental impact assessment report of the Zhongsha Gulei ethylene project ； On March 10, 2022, Fuhua Gulei Petrochemical and Saudi Industrial Investment Company jointly established Fujian Sino-Saudi Petrochemical Co., Ltd.; this joint venture will invest in the construction of the Sino-Saudi Gulei Ethylene Project at the Gulei Petrochemical complex. The establishment of the joint venture marks the official launch of this project construction ； On May 28, 2022, the Gulei Development Zone in Zhangzhou issued a public notice seeking opinions on the 1.5 million tons per year ethylene and downstream processing complex project of Fujian Zhongsha Petrochemical Co., Ltd ； On June 4, 2022, the Zhongsha Gulei Ethylene Project received official approval from the Provincial Development and Reform Commission. This marks the launch of the largest foreign-invested joint venture project in Fujian Province to date in the Gulei Development Zone of Zhangzhou, and it will accelerate the entry into the construction phase. The project will be built through a joint venture among SABIC, Fujian Energy Chemical Group, and Zhangzhou Jiulongjiang Group, with shareholdings of 51%:25%:24% respectively ； On August 18, 2022, the agreement regarding technical licensing and process package design for the Zhongsha Gulei ethylene project was signed via cloud signing. The technologies involved in this agreement are all world-leading patented technologies; most of them are SABIC’s patented technologies. The products produced are of high quality, differentiated in features, and environmentally friendly, with energy efficiency, waste emission levels, and carbon emission figures all at the international leading level for their industry ； On December 9, 2022, Sinopec and Aramco signed a framework agreement for the second phase of the Gulei Refining and Chemicals project in Fujian, marking new progress in these two major Sino-Saudi cooperation projects: the Gulei ethylene project and the second phase of the Gulei Refining and Chemicals project. The 1.5 million tons per year ethylene cracking project in Zhongsha Gulei has been officially approved, with completion and operation expected by the end of 2025. III. Building a petrochemical industry cluster worth 100 billion yuan: As one of the seven major petrochemical bases in the country and the only petrochemical industrial park in Taiwan, the Gulei Petrochemical Industry Base is an important hub for the development of the petrochemical industry. Fugui Petrochemical Industry Base focuses on enhancing the competitiveness of the industry, steadily advancing the integration of refining and chemical processing, and vigorously developing the deep-processing sector of petrochemicals. Adhering to a development model based on scale, intensification, and integration, it employs international advanced crude oil processing technologies as well as production techniques for ethylene and aromatics in order to manufacture clean fuels and high-end petrochemical products. Targeting strategic emerging industries, it places emphasis on the development of three types of synthetic materials – synthetic resins, synthetic fibers, and synthetic rubbers – including new materials, as well as their deep-processed products. This approach aims to create a petrochemical industry cluster that can accommodate the transfer of Taiwanese petrochemical industries and domestic and foreign investments, serve both the domestic market and those in Southeast Asia, and feature integrated upstream and downstream operations. At present, the development of the Gulei Petrochemical Base is accelerating rapidly, with its industrial framework becoming increasingly sophisticated; two industrial chains with a value of over 100 billion each have taken initial shape, namely those based on aromatics and polyesters, and olefins and plastics. The park has 53 industrial projects that are already in operation, under construction, signed, or in advanced negotiation stages; the total investment in these projects amounts to 329.516 billion yuan. Once operational, they will generate an annual output value of 422.773 billion yuan and annual tax revenues of 37.474 billion yuan.