10 Billion Yuan to Be Put by Shanghai  Petrochemical  Co., Ltd.
                  in  Renovation  and  Expansion
Lu Yiping, General Manager  of  Shanghai  Petrochemical  Co. ,   Ltd. ,
announced the other day that the company will put an investment of  10
billion yuan in the 5 years  from  1997  to  2001  in  renovation  and
expansion of its major production units,   and  the  capacity  of  key
products such as oil refining, ethylene and plastics will be expanded.
After the completion of the renovation and expansion, the  capacity  of
oil refining will increase from the present 5. 3  million  t/a  to  10
million t/a, almost  doubled,   and  the  capacity  of  ethylene  will
increase from the present 550 000 t/a to 850 000 t/a.
Speaking of the slack demand of petrochemical products in the  domestic
market today, Lu  said  that  the  domestic  output  of  petrochemical
enterprises can only meet 60 - 70% of the domestic market demand,  and
the shortage  has  to  be  met  by  imports.   Domestic  petrochemical
enterprises therefore still have plenty of space for development.  The
5-year renovation and expansion plan intended to raise  the  technical
content of petrochemical products through technical progress  will  be
put in the first place. Besides, the enterprise development will  also
be accelerated by acquisition and merging.
It was also disclosed that the feasibility study report of the 650  000
t/a ethylene unit and associated units to be  jointly  constructed  by
the company and British BP has already been completed. The total asset
value and sales revenue will be doubled once again by 2010.