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Source: China Coal Resources Network. Since the 12th Five-Year Plan period, Sinopec has established coal chemical industry bases across the country, accelerating the development of modern coal chemical industries. This effort helps to ensure the clean and efficient use of China’s coal resources, provides new raw material options for chemical production, and contributes to maintaining energy security. The volatile fluctuations in oil prices have had a significant impact on the development of the coal chemical industry. Faced with new challenges in the market, Sinopec’s coal chemical enterprises have intensified efforts in technological innovation and cost reduction, improving their capacity to acquire coal resources in order to build up their real capabilities during this tough market period. Plan the industrial layout and accelerate the development of coal chemical industry. Since the 21st century, oil prices have continued to rise. Meanwhile, China’s modern coal chemical industry has developed rapidly. A number of demonstration projects in this field, such as those for producing oil from coal, olefins from coal, ethylene glycol from coal, and natural gas from coal, have been put into operation one after another, demonstrating strong competitiveness. In particular, olefins produced from coal have begun to pose a significant challenge to the products manufactured through traditional petrochemical processes. In a country like China, which is rich in coal but poor in oil and natural gas, developing coal chemical industry not only holds great strategic significance for ensuring energy security, but also offers broad prospects for growth. The Party leadership group of the group company assessed the situation and formulated a coal chemical development strategy aimed at using coal to partially replace oil in the production of clean energy and chemical products, while also promoting resource acquisition, technology development, and the planning of coal chemical projects. In November 2011, the group company established a leading group for coal chemical industry development to formulate the key principles and institutional frameworks for its growth, thereby accelerating the progress of this industry. In August 2012, Sinopec Great Wall Energy Chemical Co., Ltd. was established to be responsible for the investment and operation of coal chemical projects, organizing and coordinating project construction as well as providing specialized management. Through unremitting efforts since the 12th Five-Year Plan period, progress has been made in the development of China Petrochemical’s coal chemical industry bases. The Ningdong coal, electricity, and chemicals integration project in Ningxia went into full commercial operation at the beginning of 2016, while the coal-to-olefins project operated by Zhongtian Hechuang in Inner Mongolia was fully completed and put into production in August 2017. The Anhui Zhongan United coal-to-olefins project and the Guizhou Bijie coal-to-olefins project are under planning and construction. Optimizing operations to enhance efficiency – strengthening internal capabilities in the face of low oil prices. Not long after the establishment of Great Wall Energy Chemicals Company, and just as the group’s coal chemical business segment was taking shape, international oil prices dropped from $110–$120 per barrel to below $30 per barrel. Coal-based chemical feedstocks and coal gas are starting to become uneconomical to produce. The persistently low international oil prices have raised doubts about the development prospects of new coal chemical industries. “When international oil prices are below $40 per barrel, the competitiveness of coal-based chemical industries is indeed significantly reduced. But in the long run, international oil prices will not remain below $40 per barrel for a long time. Moreover, through optimized efforts to maximize efficiency, coal-based olefin and coal-based ethylene glycol projects can still achieve break-even when international oil prices are below $40 per barrel. ”Wang Xiujiang, deputy secretary-general of the Coal Chemicals Committee of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, said. Beyond economic benefits, the development of new types of coal chemical industries is determined by China’s resource endowments. Coal chemical and petrochemical industries can develop in coordination, complementing each other’s strengths to contribute to ensuring **energy security**. “As a technical reserve and a long-term consideration in **energy strategy, modern coal chemical industry is also necessary at low oil prices. ”The person in charge of Great Wall Energy Chemicals said. Low oil prices have prompted coal chemical companies to develop more efficient production processes and technologies in order to achieve better development. In the second half of this year, Ningxia Energy Chemical Company decided to implement 16 measures aimed at optimizing production processes and increasing efficiency. These measures include raising the effective gas content in methanol, reducing electricity consumption in the calcium carbide production process, and adjusting the proportion of market-supplied thermal coal used, all of which help to improve the operational efficiency of these processes and lay a solid foundation for turning losses into profits. Developing independent technologies to strengthen the foundation for industrial development: From October 18th to 19th, various components of Zhongtian Hechuang’s large-scale coal deep processing project, such as the DCS system, methanol synthesis gas compression units, and large-scale water-cooled and air-cooled methanol synthesis reactors, passed the evaluation tests. This marks a breakthrough by Sinopec in the development of domestically produced equipment for coal chemical industries, with the company now possessing numerous technologies covered by independent intellectual property rights. The 3 projects that have passed the certification are being used for the first time in China’s coal chemical industry, and they represent the core technologies or key equipment employed by this company. The DCS project is a central control system; its successful development and reliable operation have broken the long-standing monopoly of foreign companies in the field of large-scale industrial control systems. To strengthen the foundation for the development of the coal chemical industry, Sinopec attaches great importance to the independent research and development of coal chemical technologies, and has achieved a number of technical accomplishments. In 2018, Sinopec’s two coal chemical technologies won the **First Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress**. “The successful development of the \"Highly Efficient Methanol-to-Olefins Full Process Technology (S-MTO)\」has made China the first country in the world to possess independent intellectual property rights in this area, enabling the industrialization of China’s independently developed full-process technologies for converting methanol into ethylene and propylene. “The development and application of large-scale modern coal chemical plant systems for producing oil products/olefins have enabled the resolution of a series of world-class technical challenges, with the overall technology reaching international leading levels.