The Fourth Cooperation! INEOS To Acquire 50% Stake in Sinopec's Tianjin Nangang Project

• On December 7, 2022, INEOS and Sinopec signed a new cooperation agreement under which INEOS will acquire a 50% stake in Sinopec's Tianjin Nangang ethylene project. The project is currently under construction with a 1.2 million tons/year ethylene cracking unit and a downstream high-end new material derivative product unit, which are expected to be put into operation by the end of 2023.

 

• Earlier in July 2022, INEOS and Sinopec had announced a cooperation plan, and a complete set of derivative product plants is under construction, including a 300,000-ton/year ABS (acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer resin) plant and a 500,000-ton t/a HDPE (High-Density Polyethylene) plant.

 

• The 300,000-ton/year ABS plant will adopt INEOS' world-leading Terluran® ABS technology and will be the second ABS project jointly constructed by INEOS and Sinopec. At present, the first ABS project with an annual production capacity of 600,000 tons is located in Ningbo, and INEOS is responsible for the construction.

 

• Tianjin Nangang ethylene 500,000 tons/year HDPE plant is expected to be put into operation by the end of 2023. It is the first HDPE plant authorized by INEOS and Sinopec to produce INEOS pipe-grade products in China. INEOS and Sinopec also plan to build two more in China. HDPE unit.

 

This cooperation agreement is the fourth cooperation agreement signed by INEOS and Sinopec in 2022. Previously, the three joint venture projects announced by INEOS and Sinopec included:

• First, INEOS agreed to acquire a 50% stake in Shanghai SECCO Petrochemical Co., Ltd. ("SINOPEC"), a subsidiary of China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (SINOPEC).

  Shanghai Secco is located in the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park. The factory covers an area of 200 hectares. The current annual production capacity of petrochemical products is 4.2 million tons. The production includes ethylene, propylene, polyethylene, polypropylene, styrene, polystyrene, acrylonitrile, butadiene alkenes, benzene and toluene.

• Second, INEOS agreed to establish a new joint venture company with Sinopec at a 50%:50% equity ratio, aiming to achieve 1.2 million tons/year ABS production capacity to meet China's rapidly growing demand.

  The ABS project with an annual production capacity of 600,000 tons is located in Ningbo. INEOS Styrolution is currently responsible for the construction. It is planned to be put into operation by the end of 2023. The project will become part of the joint venture company.

  INEOS and Sinopec also plan to cooperate and use INEOS's world-leading Terluran® ABS technology to build two other ABS projects with a production capacity of 300,000 tons per year. One of the ABS projects with a production capacity of 300,000 tons per year will be located in Tianjin, and the location of the third project has not yet been determined.

• According to the third agreement, INEOS and Sinopec will build a new 500,000-ton/year HDPE (high-density polyethylene) project at Tianjin Nangang Ethylene Project.

  In addition, INEOS and Sinopec will build at least two 500,000-ton/year HDPE (high-density polyethylene) projects in the future to authorize the production of INEOS pipe-grade products.

• Finally, INEOS stated that China is an important growth market for it. This series of agreements will further expand INEOS' petrochemical business in China, and the business focus will be to use INEOS' leading proprietary technology to produce related products. All transactions are subject to regulatory approvals and conditions. The project will provide financial support through a combination of self-owned funds and external financing.

Tianjin Nangang 1.2 million tons/year ethylene project

According to the information in the EIA document, the project takes the ethylene plant as the leader and extends downstream along the C2 and C3 product chains, including a 1.2 million tons/year ethylene plant, 150,000 tons/year butadiene plant, 9/40,000 tons /year MTBE/butene-1 unit, 500,000 tons/year pyrolysis gasoline hydrogenation unit, 300,000 tons/year aromatics extraction unit, 500,000 tons/year HDPE unit, 300,000 tons/year LLDPE unit, 100,000 tons /year ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) plant, 100,000 tons/year polyolefin elastomer (POE) plant, 200,000 tons/year α-olefin (LAO) plant, 130,000 tons/year acrylonitrile plant, 300,000 tons Ton/year PP plant, 300,000 ton/year acrylonitrile butadiene styrene resin (ABS) plant, and necessary public works and auxiliary facilities will be built simultaneously.