Spring output boost for Sinopec's Maoming plant [CFP]

Following this winter's harsh business chill, China's second-largest refinery is now feeling the warmth of spring, said Xu Xiankun, president of Sinopec Maoming Petrochemical Corp's ethylene facility.

After a halt in operations for maintenance and repairs in January and February that resulted big losses in revenue, the Shenzhen-listed company is expecting to hit a record-high monthly production of 100,000 tons of ethylene this March, a rebound fueled by the recovery of the manufacturing industry in the Pearl River Delta, the company told China Daily over the weekend.

The plant in the coastal city of Maoming of Guangdong province had refined 50,000 tons of ethylene, a key raw material in petrochemical manufacturing, by March 16, said Xu.

Due to regular maintenance in January and equipment repair in February, the company lost production of 19,000 tons of ethylene and suffered a 150 million yuan loss in profit, Xu said.

Xu also confirmed with China Daily that its parent company Sinopec Corp has begun building a large oil storage facility in Maoming.

Fifteen new storage tanks each capable of holding 125,000 cu m of oil will hold a combined 2 million tons of crude oil by the second half of 2011, according a report in China Petrochemical News, which will double its storage in Maoming to 4 million tons.

The expanded capacity will help China weather crude oil price fluctuations and help secure the petroleum supply in Guangdong province, one of the nation's key manufacturing hubs.

Last year was extremely profitable for the company, Li Anxi, general manager of Sinopec Maoming Petrochemical Corp, said at the company's annual meeting in January.

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The company produced 1.06 million tons of ethylene in 2009, generating 72.6 billion yuan in revenues and a remarkable 3.87 billion yuan in profit. "It means we had 106 million yuan in profit every day," Li Anxi said.

It paid 17.8 billion yuan in taxes last year, accounting for 2 percent of Guangdong's fiscal income.

In 2006 the plant became China's first with an annual capacity of 1 million metric tons ethylene. Its crude oil refining capacity has reached 10 million tons a year.

It can supply more than 2.6 million tons of chemical products and 10 million tons refined products a year.

Facing southeast Asia and with south China as its back, the plant enjoys efficient imports of crude oil and exports of refined products.

The comprehensive facility includes a modern dock, crude oil loading and unloading at sea and a railway transport system.

In addition to crude oil, its pipeline serves the Pearl River Delta area with refined products.