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BUSINESS
Shell Chemicals and China National Offshore Oil Corp. have given the final go-ahead for construction of their $4.3 billion petrochemical complex in southern China.
China's highest decision-making body, the State Council, had approved the project in 1997. The sponsors formed a joint venture in October 2000 in which Shell has a 50% stake; CNOOC, 45%; and the Guangdong government, 5%. CNOOC is mostly involved in oil exploration and drilling in the seas off China. Located in Huizhou, which is a two-hour drive north of Hong Kong, the complex will feature an 800,000-metric-ton-per-year ethylene cracker and downstream facilities for propylene oxide/styrene, ethylene glycol, polypropylene, and high- and low-density polyethylene. Most of the feedstock will be imported. Over the past 20 months, the partners have finalized the project's design, studied its environmental and social impact, and discussed financing. Major construction work will start early next year, with completion set for late 2005. The project is getting 60% of its financing through bank loans, mainly from Chinese banks. Output from the complex, worth $1.7 billion annually, will be sold to "a large number of local companies and a small number of foreign companies," Willems says. If it starts up on time, the complex will be the second major joint-venture cracker involving Chinese and Western partners, after the BASF/Sinopec project under way in Nanjing. Shell and its partners have repeatedly emphasized concern for the project's impact. Villagers living at the site were relocated in accordance with World Bank standards. And, Willems notes, the complex will incorporate the latest technologies to minimize pollution. |
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| IN BRIEF: SPACE CROP |
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Soybean plants grown on the International Space Station produced 83 seeds from 42 pods. Chemical and biological tests are now under way to determine if the microgravity environment of the station changed the chemical makeup of the seeds. The experiment was sponsored, and seeds supplied, by DuPont subsidiary Pioneer Hi-Bred.
NASA PHOTO |
