China's petrochemical Sinopec Group and the provincial government of Guizhou have invested CNY18bn ($2.8bn) for the first phase of a coal-based petrochemical project in Qianxinan city, southwest China.
In the first phase, Sinopec will build a 1.8 million metric tons per year coal-to-methanol complex, a 600,000 metric ton per year methanol-to-olefins unit, a 300,000 metric tons per year liner low density polyethylene plant and a 300,000 metric tons per year polypropylene plant.
According to Platts, the Guizhou provincial government is also planning to build a 5 million metric tons a year coal-to-oil project.
The coal-to-oil project is estimated to cost CNY75bn ($11.7bn) and will involve converting 20 million metric tons a year of coal to produce 5 million metric tons a year of oil.
