Sinopec to Raise White Oils

Sinopec plans to boost its white oils production capacity at two new units in Jingmen, China, said Lin Yunxiang, a division chief at Sinopec Jingmen Petrochemical Co., at an industry conference in Guangzhou. 

One project involves a high-pressure hydrocracking unit using Sinopec’s own catalyst, developed at its research center in Fushun, Liaoning province. Sinopec Jingmen expects that this line will produce around 550,000 metric tons of white oils per year and improve the overall quality and variety of its portfolio of white oils, Lin said at the Enmore China White Oil Industry Summit on Dec. 7.

The other is a 100,000 t/y hydrocracker that will be moved from Sinopec’s location in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. The move will also entail an upgrade from a third-party, Chinese-made catalyst to a Sinopec catalyst. Feedstock for the new facility will be naphthenic base stocks.

Construction of the two facilities will start upon funding approvals from higher-ups at Sinopec.

Aside from the facilities, the Jingmen subsidiary is also negotiating the sourcing of distillates from Sinopec’s 367,300 t/y capacity at its Chunfeng oil field in Xinjiang. The Chunfeng distillates can be further refined to produce finished process oils – including white oils, rubber filling oils and transformer oils.

Lin mentioned that Jingmen is especially eager to supply high-viscosity-index white oils for use in optical fibers, as such products are highly profitable. “With Chunfeng’s distillates, we can produce 40,000 t/y of white oils exclusively for optical fibers,” Lin said. Jingmen’s current white oil capacity is around 150,000 t/y, and its output is mainly used in industrial applications.

Sinopec, also known as China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., is a state-owned oil and gas company based in Beijing.