On March 16, the last piece of equipment for the ethylene unit of CNOOC and Shell Petrochemicals Company’s Huizhou Project–the tail gas distillation column – was precisely positioned by Sinopec Heavy Lifting &Transportation Co., Ltd. With this milestone, the hoisting work for all large-scale equipment of the ethylene unit at the CNOOC and Shell’s Huizhou Project has been successfully completed, marking another phased milestone victory in the project construction.

As a key national project for the upgrading of the petrochemical industry, the CNOOC and Shell’s Huizhou Phase III Ethylene Project, upon completion, will become one of the world′s largest single-set ethylene plants. The project adopts Shell’s proprietary and internationally leading process technologies, among which LAO/ID/SHF/PAO technologies are applied in Asia for the first time. Once operational, the company will have an annual ethylene production capacity of 3.8 million tonnes, making it one of China′s largest ethylene production bases. With a total investment of approximately 48 billion yuan, the project centers on a 1.6 million tonnes per year ethylene cracking unit and will include 16 chemical production units, public works and supporting facilities.