MPC Starts up LDPE Unit

On March 17th, 2007 Sinopec Maoming Petrochemical Co., Ltd. (MPC)
completed the 250 000 t/a LDPE (low density polyethylene)
project and put it on stream in Maoming, Guangdong province.
   The low density pipeline process technology from Basell
Corporation of Italy is used in the RMB1.4 billion project. The
technology has the technological advantages of high reaction
rate, high conversion rate and high operating rate, etc. In total,
16 brands will be manufactured in MPC, mainly including LDPE
high-end materials such as high transparent membrane material,
contraction membrane material, cable material and foaming
material.
   This 250 000 t/a LDPE unit is a complementary project of the
1 million t/a ethylene expansion project (from 360 000 t/a to
1.0 million t/a) in MPC. Construction was started in April 2006.
  The domestic supply severely falls short of demand, especially
in Guangdong province, where LDPE highly depends on imports from
other provinces and abroad formerly.
   Besides, major projects such as a 350 000 t/a HDPE unit and
a 300 000 t/a PP unit, as well as 4 renovation and expansion units,
had all been completed by the end of July 2006. (CCR2006, No.
21)