The condenser for the Tianchen Kazakhstan IPCI project is a South Korean product

On the afternoon of August 24th, the first batch of long-duration equipment for the Kazakhstan IPCI project, namely the condensers, which were under the general contracting of Tianchen Company, were successfully shipped by sea from Masan Port in South Korea. This marked the beginning of the transportation of large-scale equipment for this project, and it also provided strong support for the construction progress at the project site. This time, 3 condensers were shipped, which are considered oversized equipment. After being shipped by sea from Masan Port in South Korea to Tianjin Port, the condenser is transported over land, entering Kazakhstan via the Horgos port in Xinjiang, and then reaching the project site directly.

The IPCI project is a key initiative under China-Kazakhstan capacity cooperation; its construction period is 42 months. All materials required for the factory’s construction are acquired through global bidding, including several pieces of equipment weighing over a thousand tons, more than a hundred pieces of equipment weighing over 100 tons, and goods weighing less than 100 tons sourced from various factories around the world. This project is the overseas contracting project with the largest contract value in China’s chemical industry history, and it has attracted particular attention. COSCO Engineering formed a specialized bidding team comprising various departments and units such as its Tianjin branch, Shanghai branch, Qingdao COSCO Engineering, and Tianjin COSCO Logistics. By pooling their ideas and making use of their strengths, they overcame technical challenges such as frozen conditions in the canal during transit, scattered shipping locations, and long transportation distances. Thanks to their strong customer base and solid technical solutions, they managed to stand out among many world-renowned competitors. This once again demonstrated the importance of adhering to the strategic guidance of the logistics headquarters, as well as of strengthening systematic coordination and maximizing efficiency over the long term. It represents another significant breakthrough for COSCO Engineering in leveraging its core advantages in internationalization, integration, and specialization, and in actively contributing to the development of the Belt and Road Initiative. The Kazakhstan IPCI project, also known as the Kazakhstan Gas Chemical Complex project, is located in the Karabaldyn area of Atyrau Region in Kazakhstan. It is designed to produce 500,000 tons of polypropylene per year. The owner of the project is Kazakhstan Petrochemical Industry Company (KPI), while China National Chemical Engineering Corporation serves as the general contractor for the project; construction of the project was officially launched on September 13, 2017.

The Kazakhstan Petrochemical Integration (IPCI) project, for which China National Chemical Engineering Corporation serves as the general contractor, is a key initiative in China-Kazakhstan capacity cooperation. Located in the Karabagan region of Atyrau Province in Kazakhstan, the project has an annual production capacity of 500,000 tons of polypropylene. The contract value is approximately 1.865 billion US dollars, with a construction period of 42 months; work on the project began in November 2017. At present, 70% of the detailed design for this project has been completed, the procurement of process equipment is almost finished, and large-scale foundation work has begun on site. It is expected that the detailed design will be completed within the year, with 80% of the civil engineering work finished. The project is progressing smoothly with stable operation and controllable schedule. The IPCI project is not only Kazakhstan’s first large-scale chemical project but also its first polyolefin project. The successful implementation of this project will fill the gap in Kazakhstan’s polyolefin sector, marking the beginning of its entry into this field as well as the chemical industry at large. It is also an important measure to promote the upgrading of the industrial structure and drive socioeconomic development.

Sea transport + land transport, spanning 3 ** and thousands of kilometers – a true reflection of the Belt and Road Initiative.

The 90% model review meeting for the PDH unit of the Kazakhstan IPCI project was successfully held at Hualu Company from July 1st to 25th. The technical and operational teams of the KPI owner, engineers from KING Transformation Institute, as well as experts from Tianjin Bohua, the unit responsible for project commissioning, attended this review. The successful completion of 90% of the model review marks the entry of the project’s detailed design work into its final phase. The PDH project in Kazakhstan is currently the largest overseas project being carried out by Hualu Company. The company attaches great importance to this project at all levels; its leadership has visited the project site on multiple occasions to understand the difficulties faced in its operation, and has actively worked to resolve these issues. Strong support has been provided in terms of human resource coordination and salary incentives. All departments have overcome the challenges posed by a shortage of human resources, assigning the best professional personnel to this project, thus ensuring its successful implementation. This model review features two main aspects: first, a combination of a full-unit model review and four specialized model reviews, which enhances the quality of the model review; the full-unit model review is led by the pipeline and process engineering teams and takes three and a half weeks to complete ； The models for the four specialties of waterways, electricity, instrumentation, and telecommunications were reviewed using a specialized review approach at 4 separate venues, with the process concluding after one week. Second is the change in the focus of the review. With the participation of the owner’s operation team, experts from Tianjin Bohua, and engineers from KING Transformation Institute, the review focused on aspects such as the operability of the plant, compliance with Kazakhstani standards, analysis of conditions for the first startup, and maintainability during operation. In particular, regarding operability and maintenance requirements, the owner and the transformation institute put forward many detailed demands, necessitating timely adjustments and modifications to the completed models. For this project, the SP3D software is used for the first time in a distributed collaborative mode involving a main site and satellite sites; that is, an SPE integration platform is established between Tianchen and Hualu via a dedicated line, and intelligent software such as SP3D/SPPID/SPF/SPI/SPEL/SPRD is utilized for comprehensive professional design and design delivery. As this design pattern of a combined integration platform was being used for the first time, issues such as communication speeds and remote collaboration led to data loss at both the main site and satellite sites, as well as damage to some of the models. Additionally, the instability of SPPID caused numerous errors in connecting the drawings, resulting in a large amount of rework on the models and delays in the design progress over a period of time. Faced with unprecedented practical challenges, the various specialists in the project team overcame difficulties. With strong support from the 3D modeling team at the Information Center, and after multiple rounds of emergency repairs and supplementary construction work, it was ensured that 90% of the model review meetings could be held on schedule, laying a solid foundation for digital delivery.

Are you Korean? Are Chinese products not as good as Korean ones? And still have to pay so much for shipping.

Chinese people: Exploring experience in global procurement? It’s still the case that such devices cannot be manufactured in China, or the owner specifies a particular supplier