Kuwaiti state oil company, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, and China Petroleum and Chemical Company, known as Sinopec, are well along on plans to build a new 300,000 barrel per day refinery in Guangdong province. The total cost of the project is estimated at $8-$9 billion. Kuwait Petroleum will own 30 percent of the project, Sinopec will own 50 percent, and Royal Dutch Shell plc and Dow Chemical Company will each own 10 percent. The design capacity of the refinery is 15 million tons of crude oil annually and 1 million tons of ethylene production annually. Construction is expected to be completed in 2013, but no start date has been stated. By 2013, China is expected to receive about 500,000 barrels/day of oil from Kuwait, substantially more than current imports of about 100,000 barrels/day. The increased imports will feed the many refinery expansion projects China has planned through 2015.
