Shandong Yulong Petrochemical site aerial view | Credit: Sohu (Jan 21, 2025)
Phase I Facility Profile
The Yulong Island Refining and Chemical Integration Project (裕龙岛炼化一体化项目) is located on Yulong Island, Huangshanguan Town, Longkou City, Yantai, Shandong Province, China. It is operated by Shandong Yulong Petrochemical Co., Ltd. and represents the largest single petrochemical investment project in Shandong Province's history.
Phase I was launched in October 2020 with a total approved investment of RMB 116.8 billion (approximately USD 16–17 billion). As of the date of investment, RMB 115.95 billion had been committed. The complex is strategically located on a man-made island and connected to Yantai Port's Xigang District via a 105-km crude oil pipeline with a capacity of 20 Mt/y, which became operational in 2024.
The project consolidates 26.96 Mt/y of decentralized independent refining capacity from smaller Shandong "teapot" refineries into a single large-scale, technologically advanced integrated facility, representing China's fourth major integrated refinery-chemical complex built since 2018, following Hengli Petrochemical, Rongsheng Petrochemical, and Shenghong Petrochemical.
Phase I encompasses:
- 20 Mt/y crude oil refining capacity (2 × 200,000 bpd CDUs)
- 3 Mt/y ethylene production
- 3 Mt/y mixed xylene / aromatics capacity
- Extensive downstream polyolefin, specialty chemical, and auxiliary units
Upon reaching designed capacity, the complex is expected to generate annual sales revenue of approximately RMB 116.6 billion.
Phase I Refining Complex (20 Mt/y)
Crude Distillation Units (CDU)
- Configuration: 2 units × 10 Mt/y each (200,000 bpd per unit, total 400,000 bpd)
- Technology: Conventional atmospheric distillation
- CDU #1 (10 Mt/y): First feedstock introduced September 25, 2024; reached ~90% utilization (182,500 bpd) by November 2024
- CDU #2 (10 Mt/y): Test run commenced late March 2025; producing qualified products from April 2025
- Status: Both units fully operational
Vacuum Distillation
- Capacity: 10 Mt/y
- Technology: Conventional vacuum distillation, integrated with CDUs
- Status: Operational
Residue Hydroprocessing
- Configuration: 3 units × 2.6 Mt/y each (total 7.8 Mt/y)
- Technology: Conventional fixed-bed residue hydroprocessing
- Technology licensor: Not disclosed
- Status: Operational
Slurry-bed Residue Hydrocracking
- Capacity: 3 Mt/y (300万吨/年)
- Technology: Slurry-bed hydrocracking (浆态床加氢裂化)
- Technology licensor: Not disclosed
- Status: Successfully commissioned and operational as of October 2025
Diesel Hydrotreating
- Capacity: 3.4 Mt/y
- Technology: Conventional hydrotreating
- Technology licensor: Not disclosed
- Status: Operational
Diesel Hydrocracking
- Capacity: 3.6 Mt/y
- Technology: Conventional hydrocracking
- Technology licensor: Not disclosed
- Status: Operational
Kerosene Hydrotreating
- Capacity: 1.4 Mt/y
- Technology: Conventional hydrotreating
- Technology licensor: Not disclosed
- Status: Operational
Wax Oil Hydrocracking
- Capacity: 2 Mt/y
- Technology: Conventional wax oil hydrocracking
- Technology licensor: Not disclosed
- Status: Operational
Deep Catalytic Cracking (DCC)
- Capacity: 4 Mt/y
- Technology: RIPP DCC-Plus
- Status: Operational
- Notes: Produces high propylene yield from heavy feedstocks; flue gas desulphurisation and dedusting unit confirmed in procurement records
Aromatics Complex
- Total PX / mixed xylene capacity: 3 Mt/y
- Technology: Honeywell UOP integrated suite — confirmed contract
- Component technologies (singular references per UOP announcement; unit counts partially inferred):
- UOP Unionfining Naphtha Hydrotreating (NHT) — likely 2 units, one per CCR train; not independently confirmed)
- UOP CCR Platforming™
- 2 units × 2.6 Mt/y confirmed (total 5.2 Mt/y naphtha feed)
- first unit started late September 2024
- UOP Olefin Removal Process (ORP) (unit count not confirmed)
- UOP Sulfolane™ aromatics extraction (unit count not confirmed)
- UOP Isomar™ xylene isomerization (unit count not confirmed)
- UOP Tatoray™ toluene disproportionation (unit count not confirmed)
- PX separation unit: exists but technology licensor (Parex™ or other) not confirmed in available sources
- Status: Operational since October 2024; PX operational license received late 2024
Alkylation Unit
- Capacity: 0.4 Mt/y (400,000 t/y)
- Technology: Lummus CDAlky™
- Status: Confirmed technology license; operational
Alkane-Olefin Separation
- Status: Producing qualified products from Q1 2025
Coal Gasification Hydrogen Production
- Configuration: 3 units × 3,000 TPD coal each
- Technology: ECUST OMB CWS (Opposed Multi-Burner Coal-Water Slurry Gasification)
- Gasifier specification: Φ3,880 mm diameter, 6.5 MPa operating pressure
- Coal-based hydrogen production: 22,000 Nm³/h (integrated with PSA purification system)
- Commissioning date: September 1, 2024
- Status: Operational
PSA Hydrogen Purification
- Configuration: 6 units total
- 4 refinery off-gas based
- 1 coal gasification syngas based
- 1 residue-based, integrated with slurry-bed residue hydrocracking unit; operational as of October 2025
- Technology: Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) — domestic Chinese technology
- Technology licensor: Not confirmed in available public sources
- Status: Fully operational as of October 2025
- Scale: Described as the world's largest PSA hydrogen production facility group at a single site
Steam Crackers
- Configuration: 2 units × 1.5 Mt/y ethylene each
- Total ethylene capacity: 3 Mt/y (world's largest ethylene complex at a single site at time of commissioning)
- Technology: Lummus SRT® VII (Short Residence Time) cracking heaters
- Cracker #1: Operational from December 2024
- Cracker #2: Commissioned and producing on-spec ethylene from September 2025
- Status: Both crackers fully operational
Pyrolysis Gasoline (PyGas) Hydrogenation
- Configuration: 2 units (0.85 Mt/y + 1.0 Mt/y)
- Technology: Hydrogenation with Sinopec catalysts
- Status: Operational
Polypropylene Complex
| Line |
Capacity |
Technology |
Status |
| PP Line 1 |
0.4 Mt/y |
Sinopec STPP-II gas-phase |
Operational |
| PP Line 2 |
0.4 Mt/y |
Sinopec STPP-II gas-phase |
Operational |
| PP Line 3 |
0.4 Mt/y |
Lummus Novolen gas-phase |
Operational |
| PP Line 4 |
0.4 Mt/y |
Lummus Novolen gas-phase |
Operational |
| PP Line 5 |
0.3 Mt/y |
JPP Horizone gas-phase |
Operational |
- Total PP Capacity: 1.9 Mt/y (190万吨/年)
- Notes: All five lines confirmed installed and in active production as of late 2025. Technologies are functionally comparable (all multi-reactor gas-phase processes capable of homopolymer, random copolymer, and impact/heterophasic PP grades). The multi-licensor strategy reflects a combination of negotiating leverage, supply security, and local technology policy preferences rather than product differentiation.
Polyethylene Complex
| Unit |
Type |
Capacity |
Technology |
Status |
PE
Line 1 |
LLDPE/HDPE swing |
0.5 Mt/y |
Dow Unipol
gas-phase |
Operational |
PE
Line 2 |
LLDPE/HDPE swing |
0.5 Mt/y |
Dow Unipol
gas-phase |
Operational |
PE
Line 3 |
HDPE standalone |
0.3 Mt/y |
Sinopec
gas-phase |
Operational |
PE
Line 4 |
Three-Loop Slurry HDPE Process |
0.45 Mt/y |
Hangzhou Shuang'an Technology |
Operational |
| EVA/LDPE Line 1 |
Tubular process |
0.3 Mt/y |
LyondellBasell Lupotech T |
Started Jan.
21, 2026 |
| EVA/LDPE Line 2 |
Autoclave process |
0.2 Mt/y |
ECI Group
/Repsol |
Planned Feb.-Mar.2026 |
| UHMWPE |
Standalone |
0.1 Mt/y |
Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry |
Operational |
- Total PE Capacity: ~2.25 Mt/y (excluding UHMWPE)
- The 450,000 t/y HDPE line (PE Line 4) was absent from prior profiles and is confirmed as of January 2026 report
- The EVA/LDPE tubular line capacity is confirmed at 300,000 t/y (30万吨) by both Yulong's own website and January 2026 report, superseding the original 2021 announcement of 400,000 t/y
Ethylene Glycol (EG) / Ethylene Oxide (EO) Complex
| Parameter |
Detail |
| Configuration |
2 units × 1.02 Mt/y EG each |
| Technology |
Scientific Design EO/EG — replacing originally
planned domestic Chinese technology |
| Unit 1 licence award |
April 8, 2022 |
| Unit 2 licence award |
March 17, 2025 |
| Unit 1 status |
Operational — confirmed in 2024–2025
production reports |
| Unit 2 status |
Commissioning / startup stage — licensed
March 2025; operational status not
independently confirmed as of April 2026 |
Ethylbenzene / Styrene Monomer (EB/SM) Complex
- SM capacity: 500,000 t/y
- EB technology: Lummus/UOP EBOne™ (liquid-phase benzene alkylation with ethylene)
- SM technology: Lummus/UOP Classic SM™ — (EB dehydrogenation)
- Technology confirmation: Confirmed
- Operational status: Technology licence confirmed; commissioning status not independently confirmed in available post-startup sources
Acrylonitrile (AN)
- Total nameplate capacity: 260,000 t/y (26万吨/年) — two trains of 130,000 t/y each
- Configuration: 2 × 130,000 t/y trains
- Technology: Propylene ammoxidation (Sohio-type process) — licensor not disclosed in available sources
- Train 1 status: Operational — confirmed started March 2025
- Train 2 status: Commissioning status not confirmed in available sources
Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene (ABS)
- Capacity: 0.6 Mt/y (60万吨/年)
- Technology: Zhejiang Zhiying (domestic Chinese technology)
- Status: Fully operational — single-pass full-process startup achieved April 22, 2025
Butadiene Extraction
- Configuration: 2 units × 0.22 Mt/y each
- Total capacity: 0.44 Mt/y (44万吨/年)
- Technology: Not disclosed
- Status: Operational
Utilities and Auxiliary Units
- Air separation and compression units: Operational
- Seawater desalination: Operational
- Wastewater treatment: Operational
- Power center: Operational
- Flue gas desulphurisation / dedusting (DCC/FCC): Operational
- Automation and process control: Provided by Zhongkong Technology (SUPCON) — described as building a "world-class intelligent refining and chemical benchmark"
Current Operational Status (April 2026)
As of April 2026, Phase I is largely in active commercial production, with the vast majority of units operational. Key remaining startups include the EVA/LDPE autoclave line (0.2 Mt/y) and any residual commissioning activities on late-stage units. The complex is processing approximately 350,000 bpd of Russian crude oil following UK and EU sanctions imposed in October 2025, which caused Western crude suppliers and several technology partners to exit commercial arrangements.
Future Development: Downstream Extension (Phase II Chemical Complex)
- Total investment: RMB 117.8 billion (~USD 16 billion)
- Scope: 56 new production units targeting advanced petrochemical new materials
- Land reclamation: Commenced early 2026
- Target completion: 2029
- Key products: POE elastomers (40万吨/年), high-carbon α-olefins (30万吨/年), nylon 66 (40万吨/年), nylon 6 (30万吨/年), carbon fiber (30万吨/年), PTA, MMA/PMMA, BDO, PBS, biodegradable plastics, vinyl acetate (VAE), ASA, MBS
References
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