Being Ambitious, Qinzhou to Build a World-Class Petrochemical Base Facing ASEAN

（Written by Xu Junhao / Translated by Chen Zhiying）“Qinzhou is fully equipped with the conditions to build a national petrochemical industry base. We hope that the state will support Qinzhou in building a national petrochemical industry base, and that entrepreneurs will actively participate in the development of Qinzhou petrochemical industry.” At the opening meeting of 2020 China-ASEAN Petroleum and Chemical Forum for International Cooperation, Tan Pichuang, Mayor of Qinzhou of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, expressed his earnest expectation and ambition to build a world-class petrochemical base facing ASEAN.

Behind Qinzhou’s expectation and ambition is the rapid development of green petrochemical industry in the past ten years.

From scratch, Qinzhou petrochemical industry has laid a solid foundation

Qinzhou is located in the center of Guangxi Beibu Gulf Economic Zone, which is the most convenient access to the sea in south central, southwest and northwest China. “But objectively speaking, at that time, the market in Yangtze River Delta was more mature,” said Ni Defeng, CEO of Zhejiang Hengyi Group Co., Ltd., who noticed Qinzhou’s superior location in 2005. In 2009, Zhejiang Hengyi Group went to Qinzhou, invested more than RMB 40 billion yuan and established cross-regional cooperation under the Belt and Road and high-end green chemical and chemical fiber integration project facing ASEAN, contributing to the development of Qinzhou petrochemical industry with practical action.

Change began to happen in 2008. The State Council of China approved the implementation of the Development Plan for Guangxi Beibu Gulf Economic Zone, which clearly proposed “building large-scale oil refining base in Qinzhou and developing petrochemical industries such as crude oil processing”. Then, Qinzhou took petrochemical industry as the first pillar industry and planned to build Qinzhou Petrochemical Industrial Park. After more than ten years of cultivation and development, Qinzhou petrochemical industry has not only made a breakthrough from scratch, but also realized the transformation from small to large in scale.

In addition, Qinzhou has also provided a strong support for the development of petrochemical industry by actively building a port type national logistics hub to bear the city and the International Gateway Port of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor. Chen Dasheng, Vice President of Shanghai Huayi Group Co., Ltd., regarded today’s Qinzhou as a golden area for the development of petrochemical industry. Because of the large transportation volume of petrochemical industry, the layout of petrochemical production base in Qinzhou can radiate the western China and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Area, and can reach ASEAN and even Europe more quickly.

In 2010, after a batch of petrochemical projects with 10 million tons of oil refining of PetroChina Guangxi Petrochemical Company were put into operation, Qinzhou boasted the capacity to refine 13 million tons of oil. In recent years, Shanghai Huayi Group, Zhejiang Tongkun Group, Zhejiang Hengyi Group and other world-class well-known chemical enterprises have been successfully introduced to invest in Qinzhou. From boasting one leading enterprise to multiple ones, Qinzhou has initially formed a high-end green chemical fiber industrial layout and constructed a unique diversified petrochemical industry system featuring “oil, coal, gas and salt”. It is estimated that by 2025, the total investment of Qinzhou petrochemical industry will exceed RMB 300 billion yuan, and the output value will exceed RMB 300 billion yuan.

Along with the development of petrochemical industry, Qinzhou has also built a complete set of industries. With the increasing improvement of industrial system and industrial support, Qinzhou Petrochemical Industrial Park in 2020 was listed among the top 20 petroleum parks in China.

“Qinzhou has become the largest energy and chemical industry base in southwest China, laying a solid foundation for building a world-class petrochemical industry base facing ASEAN,” said Tan Pichuang.

Qinzhou’s opportunity in the development of China-ASEAN petrochemical industry cooperation 

“Although there are still some shortcomings in Qinzhou’s textile industry, a downstream petrochemical industry, the industrial agglomeration is very fast. I believe that in five to eight years, Qinzhou will not only become China’s new petrochemical industry base, but also become a bridgehead for ASEAN petrochemical markets,” Ni Defeng expressed strong confidence in the future development of Qinzhou petrochemical industry at the China-ASEAN Petroleum and Chemical Forum for International Cooperation.

Ni’s confidence is not groundless. In fact, in recent years, Qinzhou has effectively promoted the development of port industry through the construction of “one port, two districts”. As far as green chemical industry is concerned, the total investment of projects under construction has reached RMB 200 billion yuan; From January to October 2020, the investment in fixed assets completed by Qinzhou Port Area of China (Guangxi) Pilot Free Trade Zone has exceeded RMB 9 billion yuan, with a growth rate of 153%. Petrochemical related industries have the tendency to gather and accelerate.

Tan Pichuang said that having the unique location of closing to ASEAN markets, Qinzhou enjoys the advantages of China’s high-level open platforms. It’s demand for petrochemical products continued to increase, indicating that there is a great opportunity to build a world-class petrochemical industrial base facing ASEAN.

What’s more, Qinzhou has a clear “road map” to build such a base.

First, developing high-end and refined industries. A number of major projects of Hengyi, Tongkun, Huayi and other enterprises will be put into operation in the next three years, effectively enhancing the basic raw material support capacity of Qinzhou Petrochemical Industrial Park. Qinzhou will take advantage of the situation and strive to accelerate the formation of green high-end industrial cluster of new chemical materials with international competitiveness, such as high-performance resin, special synthetic rubber, high-performance fiber, special chemicals and functional chemicals. Meanwhile, it will promote the petrochemical industry to gradually extend from core areas to surrounding parks, and radiate and drive downstream traditional industries such as textile and clothing, packaging, coating and building materials, and emerging industries such as high-end equipment, electronics, and pharmaceutical. In addition, it will strengthen strategic cooperation with surrounding colleges and universities, carry out joint training of talents, and provide strong talent support.

Second, developing green and intelligent parks. In terms of green development, Qinzhou will promote the completion and operation of hazardous waste disposal and deep-sea discharge pipeline projects in Suez, France as soon as possible. Meanwhile, it will start the construction of four 660MW thermal power units in the third phase of SDIC power plant. In terms of intelligent development, Qinzhou will speed up the construction of its port emergency rescue command center, water and land fire station and other important supporting facilities, and build an integrated intelligent management platform with the function of safety production, environmental protection, emergency response, disaster prevention and mitigation, transportation and logistics, and energy supply.

Third, developing regional and international cooperation. Qinzhou will orderly undertake the transfer of high-end industries at home and abroad, develop downstream industries such as textile and clothing, packaging and coating, support the “bringing” of leading enterprises, advanced technology and high-end talents and the “going out” of advantageous products, and actively build a demonstration zone for China-ASEAN cooperation. At the same time, it will further deepen strategic cooperation with China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation and other authoritative organizations, strive to hold petrochemical industry development conference, China chemical industry park and industrial development forum, and other related activities in Qinzhou, so as to build Qinzhou into a platform for deepening exchanges and cooperation in petrochemical industry.

Source: China-ASEAN Panorama