China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) and Shell International Petroleum Co. Ltd recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore their existing collaboration and the development of petrochemical manufacturing facilities at the Nanhai site in Huizhou, Guangdong province, China.
The objective is to establish a world-class integrated site that has scale and competitiveness.
The MoU was signed by CNOOC Chairman Yang Hua and Shell CEO Ben van Beurden, in the presence of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
“I am pleased that CNOOC and Shell have taken a step towards furthering our already-beneficial partnership at Nanhai,” said Graham van’t Hoff, Executive Vice President for Shell’s global chemicals business. “This news builds on the successful start-up of phase two of the site expansion in May and demonstrates the ongoing strategic importance of the site.”
In May 2018, CNOOC and Shell announced the official start-up of the second ethylene cracker at their Nanhai petrochemicals complex. The new ethylene cracker increased ethylene capacity at the complex by approximtaly 1.2 million tpy, more than doubling the capacity of the complex. The new facility will also include a styrene monomer and propylene oxide (SMPO) plant, which will be the largest in China when it begins operations.