China is expected to witness 512 petrochemical projects to commence operations during the period 2021-2025, accounting for 76% of the total project starts across the country’s oil and gas value chain. In petrochemicals, new build projects dominate the project starts with more than 90% while the rest are expansion projects, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

GlobalData’s report, ‘Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Projects Outlook to 2025 – Development Stage, Capacity, Capex and Contractor Details of All New Build and Expansion Projects’, reveals that China is expected to witness 676 projects to commence operations during the forecast period. Out of these, upstream projects would be 45, midstream projects 81, refinery 38, and petrochemicals will be the highest with 512 projects.

Soorya Tejomoortula, Oil & Gas Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Massive investments are presently underway in the Chinese petrochemicals sector by both domestic and foreign investors to meet the ever-growing demand. Some of the major sectors driving petrochemicals demand in China include packaging, consumer durables and automobiles.”

Among the upcoming petrochemical projects in China by 2025, Zhejiang Petrochemical Daishan Xylene Plant 2 is a key project with a capacity of 4.80 mtpa and costing US$4.5bn. The new build plant is presently is in the construction stage and is expected to start operations by 2022.

In the upstream (fields) segment, GlobalData expects 45 projects to start operations in the China during 2021 to 2025. Some of the notable projects include Kenli 6-1 and Weirong Phase II. It is a shallow water conventional oil field presently in construction stage and is expected to start operations this year. On the other hand, Weirong Phase II is the expansion of the Weirong shale gas field. The expansion of shale field is part of China’s efforts to push for unconventional resources development and increase domestic gas production.

Midstream projects will constitute around 12% of all oil and gas projects. LNG regasification projects constitute bulk of the upcoming midstream projects with Yantai Expansion terminal being one of the key projects with a capacity of 487 bcf and a project cost of US$1.1bn. The project has received approval and is expected to start operations in 2025.

In pipelines, Power Of Siberia 1 (China Section) gas pipeline is a key project with a length of 3,371 km and a project cost of US$9.3bn. The pipeline is presently under construction and is expected to start operations in 2025.