At 14:38 on 26 October 2025, PetroChina Guangxi Petrochemical’s 1.2 million t/y ethylene plant was officially charged with feedstock; by 02:41 the next day it had produced on-spec product, achieving a flawless start-up. This milestone marks the company’s complete transformation from a “fuel-type” refinery into an integrated refining-chemical enterprise focused on “chemical products and organic materials”, and presses the “fast-forward button” for a new industrial ecology in Southwest China in which leading projects drive cluster development.
The plant was executed on an EPC basis by Huanqiu Contracting & Engineering and employs PetroChina’s proprietary large-scale ethylene process package. It is designed to produce 1.2 million t/y of polymer-grade ethylene, 616 kt/y of polymer-grade propylene, 400 kt/y of hydrogenated pyrolysis gasoline and 35 kt/y of styrene, together with more than 20 by-products such as hydrogen, C5/C9 fractions and pyrolysis fuel oil. After start-up, Guangxi Petrochemical will cut fuel output by 3.49 million t/y and lift chemical output by 3.06 million t/y. High-end film and pipe-grade materials produced will close domestic supply gaps and ease China’s structural imbalance of “plenty of fuel, too few chemicals and insufficient high-end products”.
Construction set a benchmark for “PetroChina speed and quality”. Since breaking ground in July 2023, the team coped with Beibu Gulf heat, torrential rain and frequent typhoons. Guided by the “Daqing and Iron-Man” spirit, all parties applied PetroChina’s “six-isation” philosophy—standardised design, centralised procurement, shop fabrication, modular construction, smart management and digital handover—while rigorously controlling quality, safety, schedule, contract, investment and integrity. Foundations emerged in only eight months; “soil-free” erection was achieved within three months. The 1,760-t No. 2 propylene splitter, an ultra-heavy lift, was set safely and precisely, accomplishing “nine firsts” for PetroChina projects.
9 June 2025 – cracking-gas compressor turbine passed first-time run, setting a domestic record for a 70 MW-class ethylene turbine.
21 June 2025 – world-first 200 ms dual-VFD switching motor for a 1.2 Mt/y ethylene compressor reached optimal performance at this power rating.
22 August 2025 – ethylene furnaces completed dry-out with tube-temperature uniformity within ±5 °C, laying the foundation for feed-in.
Five innovative optimisations were adopted in the blowing sequence, achieving “zero water hammer” and finishing 13 days ahead of schedule, saving RMB 18 million in steam costs.
As PetroChina’s first flagship refinery-to-chemicals integration project, the Guangxi ethylene complex centres on this plant and comprises 14 chemical units, two refining units and utilities/off-sites, fully completed on 14 July 2025. The project will shift Guangxi from basic chemicals to high-end new materials, leverage the Western Land-Sea Corridor to serve Southwest & South China and ASEAN markets, and anchor a trillion-yuan green chemical-new-materials cluster facing ASEAN, driving downstream packaging, building-materials and automotive industries.
Source: PetroChina Guangxi Petrochemical Company
