08-10-02 The China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) installed a carbon dioxide absorption tower in the second phase of its Hainan nitrogenous fertilizer project, the largest of its kind in China. The project, located in Dongfang City, is listed as one of the major national construction projects in the Tenth Five-Year Plan and is a key downstream project of CNOOC.

A synthetic ammonia production unit producing 450,000 tpy and a urea unit making 800,000 tpy will be built in the second phase, with a total investment of 2.68 bn yuan ($ 323.7 mm). It is expected that the construction of the second phase will be completed in May 2003 and will go into operation in November 2003.
The second phase will source natural gas from the Dongfang 1-1 gas field in the South China Sea, which is able to provide 800 mm cmpy. The first phase of the project, which is already operating, consumes natural gas from the Yacheng 13-1 gas field in the South China Sea.

A 300,000-tpy synthetic ammonia production unit and a 520,000-tpy urea unit went into operation in the first phase. CNOOC is also planning to build a 600,000-tpy methanol production project in Hainan with natural gas from the South China Sea.