03-03-09 Shell, Qatar Petroleum International (QPI) and PetroChina's joint integrated refinery and petrochemical complex will go ahead as scheduled, a Shell source involved with the project said, squashing speculation that the project might be shelved amid the current global economic crisis.
Market talk that the project had run into problems started early this year after news that two integrated petrochemical projects involving Qatar Petroleum was either being delayed or placed on ice.

The project that is placed on a delayed time frame is the joint venture between Qatar Petroleum and Shell Chemicals, while the project being shelved is the planned 2.6 bn petrochemical complex between Honam Petrochemical and Qatar Petroleum.
The Shell source said that while the location of the Shell-QP-PetroChina petrochemical project had not yet been decided, all parties were leaning toward locating the complex in eastern China.

The source also disclosed that the integrated refinery and petrochemical complex will have a configuration, "very similar" to the company's Nanhai project.
The Nanhai project, a 50:50 joint venture between Shell Nanhai, a member of the Shell Group of Companies, and CNOOC Petrochemicals Investment, centres around a $ 4.3 bn integrated petrochemical complex.

Petrochemical products produced at the Nanhai complex include 800,000 mm tpy of ethylene, 430,000 mm tpy of propylene, 165,000 mm tpy of butadiene, 250,000 mm tpy of styrene monomer, 240,000 mm tpy of propylene oxide, and 450,000 mm tpy of pyrolysis gasoline.
The polyolefins lines consist of a 250,000 mm tpy line producing high density and medium density polyethylene, a 250,000 mm tpy line producing low density PE, and a 240,000 mm tpy polypropylene line producing homo polymer, which includes injection/raffia, as well as higher grades such as random copolymer.

The integrated complex is expected to come on stream "around five years from the date of signing of the letter of intent," the source said. This means that if all goes well, the complex should start up in 2013.
Platts had reported in June 2008 that the three companies had signed a letter of intent to conduct joint preliminary studies to assess the viability of building a refinery and petrochemical complex as well as marketing of products in China.

PetroChina will have a 51 % shareholding in the project, QPI 24.5 %, and Shell 24.5 %, Shell said.