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This post was last edited by Still Ru Feng on 2009-9-24 at 11:11. As the whole nation celebrates the 60th anniversary of the founding of New China, more good news has come from the western frontier: China’s petrochemical integration project of greatest scale, and a landmark project for the development of the western region – the Dushanzi Petrochemical Complex, with its capacity to process ten million tons of oil and produce one million tons of ethylene – has recently been completed and put into operation in Xinjiang. The Dushanzi Petrochemical project, which involves refining 10 million tons of crude oil and producing 1 million tons of ethylene, is an important part of China’s energy cooperation strategy with Kazakhstan. The project includes 10 refining units capable of processing 10 million tons of crude oil each, as well as 2 million tons of hydrocracking capacity; it also features 11 chemical production units capable of manufacturing 1 million tons of ethylene, 900,000 tons of polyethylene, and 550,000 tons of polypropylene, in addition to various utility facilities. The project primarily processes high-sulfur crude oil from Kazakhstan, with a total investment of 30 billion yuan and a land area of 455 hectares. The project was approved by the State Council in February 2005, and construction of the facilities began in June 2006. The refining and chemical processing units of this project are under centralized control and all are of world-class scale. The 1 million-ton ethylene production facility is the largest of its kind in China, utilizing the most advanced technologies available worldwide. All petroleum products meet the Euro IV standards, while most of the chemical products are high-performance ones. Experts believe that this project is of great significance for accelerating the implementation of the strategy for the development of the western region, ensuring China’s energy security, and promoting the sustainable, rapid, and healthy development of the national economy. It is also important for rapidly transforming Xinjiang’s resource advantages into economic advantages, fostering the economic and social development of Xinjiang, maintaining ethnic unity and border stability, as well as enabling China’s petroleum and petrochemical industries to make full use of both domestic and foreign resources and explore both domestic and international markets.