Lanzhou Petrochemical Facility. Photo by Xu Bo (Oct 19, 2021)
PetroChina Lanzhou Petrochemical Company operates an integrated refining and petrochemical complex located in Xigu Chemical Park, Lanzhou City, Gansu Province. The company is a large-scale integrated enterprise combining refining, chemicals, engineering construction, maintenance, R&D, and supporting services, and serves as a major refining and chemical production base in western China.
Scale and Capabilities
The facility has a crude oil processing capacity of 10.5 million tons per annum with compatible secondary processing capacity, supported by leading refining and chemical processing technologies in China. The company operates more than 90 main production installations producing over 400 specifications (grades) of petrochemical products across multiple categories. The complex processes seven types of crude oil and manufactures transportation fuels (gasoline, diesel, kerosene), lube base oils, and chemical products including ethylene, synthetic ammonia, synthetic resins, synthetic rubber, polypropylene, fertilizers, catalytic cracking catalysts, fine chemicals, and organic agents.
Current production capacities include 700,000 tons per year of ethylene, 1.22 million tons per year of synthetic resins, 220,000 tons per year of synthetic rubber, 520,000 tons per year of fertilizers, and 50,000 tons per year of refining catalysts. The company's total assets reach 40 billion yuan with annual sales revenue exceeding 70 billion yuan. The facility spans approximately 30 square kilometers and employs nearly 30,000 people.
Lanzhou Petrochemical fish eye view (Apr 12, 2025)
1.2 Million Tons/Year Ethylene Renovation Project
1.2 Million Tons/Year Ethylene Renovation Project: The project received pre-feasibility study approval from CNPC in January 2024, followed by feasibility study approval passing through CNPC Party Committee review in June 2024. In November 2024, Lanzhou Petrochemical signed a joint construction agreement with State Grid Lanzhou Power Supply Company for a 330 kV power transmission project, formally launching project implementation. On March 6-7, 2025, the ethylene unit design preparation meeting was held, marking the full launch of the 120,000 tons/year ethylene unit design and preparation work.
The project has a total investment of approximately 23.17 billion yuan with 8,000 operating hours per year, and is being constructed at the existing Lanzhou Xigu facility spanning the refinery, ethylene/fertilizer, and rubber/petrochemical production areas. Earlier reports indicated construction was planned to start in June 2024 with completion by 2025, though the project timeline has been adjusted as the design phase formally commenced in March 2025.
The renovation consists of three main components:
Ethylene transformation: Constructing a new 1.2 million tons/year ethylene cracking furnace with quenching unit and 800,000 tons/year post-separation facility, while shutting down existing 460,000 tons/year and 240,000 tons/year ethylene units and reusing the 460,000 tons/year separation capacity, forming a "one-head-two-tail" configuration to reach total ethylene capacity of 1.2 million tons/year.
Refinery adaptation: Modifying existing units including a 1.2 million tons/year catalytic cracking unit, 3 million tons/year diesel hydrotreating unit, and 1.2 million tons/year diesel hydrotreating unit to increase ethylene feedstock production, plus adding new PSA (50,000 tons/year) and C2 recovery (200,000 tons/year) units.
Downstream expansion: Building seven new production units comprising 20,000 tons/year octene-1, 100,000 tons/year POE, 140,000 tons/year EVA, 450,000 tons/year LLDPE, 400,000 tons/year polypropylene, 700,000 tons/year pyrolysis gasoline hydrogenation, and 700,000 tons/year aromatics extraction facilities, while converting the existing 170,000 tons/year HDPE unit to 60,000 tons/year ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene production.
Upon completion, the project will reduce refined product output to 5.3049 million tons/year (a reduction of 1.2681 million tons/year), specifically decreasing diesel by 1.5865 million tons/year while increasing gasoline by 150,900 tons/year and kerosene by 167,500 tons/year. Chemical products will increase by 1.4 million tons annually, including 1.041 million tons of polyolefin products (290,000 tons of high-end materials such as POE, UHMWPE, and EVA, 375,600 tons of advanced polypropylene, 200,000 tons of HDPE, and 175,400 tons of LDPE).
References
- Jul 20, 2022. PetroChina Lanzhou Petrochemical Company. China News
- Refining & Chemicals. CNPC
- Jan 18, 2024. Lanzhou Petrochemical's 1.2 million tons/year ethylene transformation project has made important progress. CNPC
- H. Jing. Jan 16, 2024. With a total investment of about 23.17 billion yuan, Lanzhou Petrochemical has made new progress in its 1.2 million tons/year ethylene renovation project. Jigong Vogel
- S. Ruobing. Jan 9, 2025. “Changes in 2024 ”Year-end series of special articles① Reinventing changes: Climbing high and looking far, the world is wide —— Review of Lanzhou Petrochemical's understanding of changes and seeking changes to promote high-quality development. China Internet News Center
- Mar 16, 2025. Lanzhou Petrochemical's 1.2 million tons/year ethylene project was fully launched. China General Machinery Industry Association
