Sinopec Group's Ethylene Output Falls to 2006 Level
State-owned Sinopec Group's ethylene production in 2008 fell to levels last seen two years ago as it cut output to boost fuel supplies ahead of the Olympics and curbed operation later on slumping chemical demand.
The group, which runs most of its key businesses via listed Sinopec Corp, said it produced 6.35 million tonnes of ethylene last year, a volume 5.14% lower than in 2007 and roughly the same as in 2006.
China in recent years has been aggressively expanding its production capacity of ethylene, a key building block for plastics, synthetic rubber and chemical fibre, since local output was insufficient to meet booming demand fuelled by fast economic growth.
Sinopec had to jack up output of refined oil products and cut ethylene production to meet market demand when supply was tight because of political requirements, said Liu Junan, former president of a Sinopec thinktank.
Collapsing prices and demand for chemicals in recent months might have also eaten into its ethylene production, a Shandong-based analyst said.
Despite the growth of crude throughput slowed to 4.34% in 2008 from 5.91% in 2007, Sinopec's output growth of gasoline, diesel and kerosene picked up to 9.03% last year from 6.16% in 2007.
Domestic sales of refined oil products totalled 123 million tonnes, the group said in a report on its website.
The volume was 3.4% higher than the 119 million tonnes of fuel sold in 2007.
Sinopec Group produced 41.8 million tonnes, or 836,000 barrels per day, of crude oil and 8.26 billion cubic metres of natural gas in 2008, the report said.
Based on earlier company figures, oil output was 1.75% higher than in 2007 while natural gas production was 3.25% more than a year earlier.
It said that overseas equity oil, output it entitles from overseas oilfields, totalled at 9 million tonnes last year, the same as earlier plans.
By Jim Bai, Reuters. (source: www.chemicals-technology.com)
The group, which runs most of its key businesses via listed Sinopec Corp, said it produced 6.35 million tonnes of ethylene last year, a volume 5.14% lower than in 2007 and roughly the same as in 2006.
China in recent years has been aggressively expanding its production capacity of ethylene, a key building block for plastics, synthetic rubber and chemical fibre, since local output was insufficient to meet booming demand fuelled by fast economic growth.
Sinopec had to jack up output of refined oil products and cut ethylene production to meet market demand when supply was tight because of political requirements, said Liu Junan, former president of a Sinopec thinktank.
Collapsing prices and demand for chemicals in recent months might have also eaten into its ethylene production, a Shandong-based analyst said.
Despite the growth of crude throughput slowed to 4.34% in 2008 from 5.91% in 2007, Sinopec's output growth of gasoline, diesel and kerosene picked up to 9.03% last year from 6.16% in 2007.
Domestic sales of refined oil products totalled 123 million tonnes, the group said in a report on its website.
The volume was 3.4% higher than the 119 million tonnes of fuel sold in 2007.
Sinopec Group produced 41.8 million tonnes, or 836,000 barrels per day, of crude oil and 8.26 billion cubic metres of natural gas in 2008, the report said.
Based on earlier company figures, oil output was 1.75% higher than in 2007 while natural gas production was 3.25% more than a year earlier.
It said that overseas equity oil, output it entitles from overseas oilfields, totalled at 9 million tonnes last year, the same as earlier plans.
By Jim Bai, Reuters. (source: www.chemicals-technology.com)
