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The South China Sea blends seamlessly with the sky, and the "refining aircraft carrier" is sailing far and wide. May 30, 2024, marks the first anniversary of Guangdong Petrochemical's full commercial operation. Early in the morning, the spinning propellers churned up waves as the cargo ship "Kunlun Oil 206," fully loaded with over 20,000 tons of diesel oil, slowly departed from the Guangdong Petrochemical terminal, heading towards the South China market.
Born from the sea, strong through the sea. As the world's largest single-phase refining and chemical project in China, how has Guangdong Petrochemical developed over the past year? Has it achieved its expected goals? What role has it played in regional economic development? Our reporter takes you inside Guangdong Petrochemical to find the answers.
This year, driven by Guangdong Petrochemical, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) increased the number of oil types it could process to over 50, effectively increasing the supply of crude oil resources. Guangdong Petrochemical's ethylene production exceeded one million tons, making a positive contribution to my country's transformation from a major petrochemical producer to a leading petrochemical power.
Under the night sky, viewed from above, the world-class integrated petrochemical base—the Guangdong Petrochemical Refining and Chemical Integration Project—shines brightly, becoming a shining "star" in the Jieyang Da Nan Hai Petrochemical Industrial Park.
As the only petrochemical base in China and abroad capable of processing only low-grade heavy oil, Guangdong Petrochemical was established when most of my country's refining enterprises could only process low-sulfur light crude oil. This placed an inherent responsibility on Guangdong Petrochemical to reduce concerns about my country's energy security from the supply side.
This year, Guangdong Petrochemical fully fulfilled its responsibilities as a key central enterprise, making full use of "two resources" and targeting "two markets," continuously optimizing the channels and types of imported crude oil from the sea. In 2023, Guangdong Petrochemical processed over 16 million tons of 29 different types of crude oil and unloaded over 18 million tons. The proportion of heavy crude oil processed increased from 40% at the beginning of the year to a peak of 75%, forming a unique deep-processing route for heavy and low-quality crude oil in its refining business, truly achieving "processing oil where appropriate, aromatics where appropriate, and olefins where appropriate."
More importantly, driven by Guangdong Petrochemical's philosophy of "using China's coarse grains to produce global high-quality products," China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) can process over 50 types of crude oil, effectively increasing the supply of crude oil resources and creating a new situation of domestic and international linkage between my country's oil and gas resources and petrochemical products. This serves as a vivid practice of implementing the important directive that "the energy bowl must be held firmly in our own hands."
Looking at the industry as a whole, the establishment of Guangdong Petrochemical is equally significant. At that time, my country had just joined the ranks of the world's largest oil refining nation, and the large-scale import of ethylene and the long-term reliance on imports for high-end chemical raw materials were important factors restricting the construction of a petrochemical powerhouse.
As a world-class integrated new petrochemical base with a project scale of 20 million tons/year of oil refining, 2.6 million tons/year of paraxylene, and 1.2 million tons/year of ethylene, Guangdong Petrochemical operated at full capacity over the past year, producing over 1 million tons of ethylene, effectively supporting the rapid growth of my country's ethylene production capacity. Since the beginning of this year, the company has launched over 6 million tons of refined and chemical products across 20 grades. The continuous introduction of specialty petrochemical products into the market has provided strong support for local manufacturing, making a positive contribution to promoting the transformation, upgrading, and innovative development of the petroleum and chemical industry, and realizing my country's transformation from a major petrochemical country to a petrochemical powerhouse.
Meanwhile, leveraging its advantageous geographical location, Guangdong Petrochemical has deeply integrated into the Belt and Road Initiative. Its aviation kerosene and high-grade gasoline have successfully entered the markets of Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, and Europe, contributing to my country's efforts to strengthen and expand international oil trade and optimize global resource allocation.
This year, Guangdong Petrochemical broke the historical pattern of China National Petroleum Corporation's (CNPC) "north-to-south oil transport," rewriting the traditional pattern of Guangdong's petrochemical industry being "strong in the central and western regions, weak in the east," and driving Jieyang City's GDP growth from negative to the highest in the province.
At the Guangdong Petrochemical Company's product terminal, cargo ships are orderly loading oil and chemical products before sailing to countries such as Singapore, Vietnam, and the Netherlands.
On the Petrochemical Avenue in the industrial zone, heavy trucks loaded with resin products from Guangdong Petrochemical head towards nearby users such as Shantou and Fuzhou.
Located adjacent to the Greater Bay Area in the heart of eastern Guangdong, at the confluence of the Longjiang River and the South China Sea, Guangdong Petrochemical is a key link in CNPC's South China strategy and an important practice in helping Guangdong Province achieve its "One Core, One Belt, One Zone" development strategy and effectively promoting the high-quality development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
This year, Guangdong Petrochemical, leveraging the large platform of its parent company, actively collaborated with regional sales companies and specialized enterprises, breaking the historical pattern of China National Petroleum Corporation's "north-to-south oil transportation." Now, fuel-powered vehicles in Guangdong, Fujian, and other provinces and municipalities, fueled by clean oil produced by Guangdong Petrochemical, cruise smoothly on the roads; flights at Jieyang Chaoshan International Airport in Guangdong, refueled with aviation kerosene produced by Guangdong Petrochemical, soar effortlessly through the skies… With the commissioning of Guangdong Petrochemical, Guangdong finally achieved "Guangdong oil sold in Guangdong."
This year, the entry of Guangdong Petrochemical's chemical products into the market brought new momentum to this major manufacturing province, rewriting the traditional pattern of Guangdong's petrochemical industry being "strong in the central and western regions, weak in the east."
In Huilai County, Jieyang City, where the Guangdong Petrochemical project is located, from shop signs to underground drainage pipes, renovation and upgrading are underway, a city-wide beautification project is in full swing. This is just a small example of how Guangdong Petrochemical is benefiting local development.
"Since Guangdong Petrochemical started production, our production has had a stable supply of raw materials. I place an order in the morning and receive the goods in the afternoon," said a chemical product user in Shantou, echoing the sentiments of many users in the South China market.
To date, millions of tons of synthetic resin products produced by Guangdong Petrochemical have flooded into East China, driving down Guangdong's synthetic resin import rate from 46.8% to 33.5%. Manufacturers of films, toys, and other products in East Guangdong not only have a stable supply but also significantly reduce transportation costs. "We are cultivating industrial clusters with a 'super chain leader' as the driving force," said Li Hongfeng, deputy director of the Jieyang Da Nan Hai Petrochemical Industrial Zone Management Committee. Around Guangdong Petrochemical as the "leading force," Jieyang City has comprehensively launched actions to "strengthen," "supplement," and "extend" the industrial chain, achieving local supply and cross-border transformation of basic chemical products. It has successively attracted 12 mid- and downstream industrial projects, and a "one super, many strong" industrial structure is beginning to emerge. Once the industrial zone is fully operational, its annual output value will exceed 40 billion yuan, further boosting Jieyang's regional GDP growth.
With the successful implementation of a major project, the entire region's leapfrog development has been revitalized. Guangdong Petrochemical, as Jieyang City's "Number One Project," achieved operating revenue of 93 billion yuan in the past year, contributing 20% of Jieyang City's GDP that year. It propelled Jieyang City from negative growth to becoming the fastest-growing city in the province, and facilitated the successful signing of nearly 100 billion yuan in planned investment for downstream petrochemical projects in South China.
This year, Guangdong Petrochemical focused on strengthening its capabilities through technology, empowering the industry with green practices, and deeply rooting itself in intelligence, striving to become a benchmark and set an example in accelerating the development of new-quality productivity, prioritizing ecological protection and green development, and promoting digital and intelligent development.
Walking through the Guangdong Petrochemical plant area, towering refining towers contrast with lush green vegetation, and rising steam embraces fluffy white clouds, unfolding a magnificent picture of modern industry accompanied by the rumble of machinery. Refining is an industry that emphasizes technology, intelligence, and environmental protection; how to properly manage the relationship between these elements is a common challenge faced by the refining industry. Through a year of exploration, Guangdong Petrochemical has provided an optimal solution: strengthening capabilities through technology, empowering the industry with green practices, and deeply rooting itself in intelligence.
In the past year, Guangdong Petrochemical has persisted in using innovation to break through enterprise management and technological bottlenecks, striving to become a benchmark in the new journey of accelerating the development of new-quality productivity.
Focusing on the "dual-carbon, three-new" benefit growth points, Guangdong Petrochemical established five special working groups for refining, chemicals, aromatics, green and low-carbon development, and digital intelligence. It completed a feasibility study for an 8,000-ton/year tetramethylbenzene comprehensive utilization project, domestically replaced 28 new "three-agent" products, and developed a total of 20 new chemical products, including five grades developed for the first time by the group. Two metallocene products successfully entered the market, and ACP9255 was exceptionally included in the group's 2023 new product catalog (Category B). Product development continues to achieve new breakthroughs.
Green is the foundation of high-quality development. Guided by the "dual-carbon" goals, Guangdong Petrochemical continuously strengthens the legal and compliant management of pollutant emissions, improves the implementation plan for creating a green enterprise, conducts special VOCs investigations, and organizes over 2,600 environmental quality monitoring points for wastewater and exhaust gas. Wastewater reuse rate reaches over 70%, and solid waste is treated 100% in compliance with regulations, forging a new path of ecological priority and green development.
On May 30th, at an inspection point in the Guangdong Petrochemical ethylene unit, Liu Wei'ao, an operator from the Chemical Department of Guangdong Petrochemical, "checked in" with a smart inspection device after completing an inspection. The central control room, 1 kilometer away, received real-time inspection information and trajectory. "This was unimaginable before," Liu Wei'ao said.
Smart factories are the forefront of the refining industry. Over the past year, Guangdong Petrochemical has actively led the development of digital intelligence. The deep application of various digital technologies has sculpted the "most powerful brain" of the smart refinery; the successful application of intelligent systems has led to cleaner production and more efficient operation of the refinery… Guangdong Petrochemical has not only become China National Petroleum Corporation's first cloud-native smart factory without information silos, but has also achieved data integration and sharing across all business domains, successfully being selected as a "National Smart Manufacturing Demonstration Factory."
With the South China Sea's tides rising high, it is time to set sail. Guangdong Petrochemical, this pearl of the South China Sea carrying many expectations, is embarking on a new journey to accelerate its transformation into a green, intelligent, and efficient world-class refining enterprise. The cadres and employees of Guangdong Petrochemical braved the winds and waves and forged ahead under pressure, striving to contribute more and greater petroleum power to the advancement of Chinese-style modernization.
