BP, Sinopec & SPC Celebrate SECCO Completion
Release date:
29 June 2005
BP, Sinopec and Shanghai Petrochemical Company, the three parties in the SECCO joint venture, today celebrated the successful construction and commissioning of the SECCO manufacturing site at a ceremony in Shanghai, following a decade-long collaboration.
The 220-hectare SECCO facility, the largest petrochemical complex in China to date, was built in just 27 months, 3 months ahead of schedule. Commissioning of SECCO’s 900ktpa cracker, in March 2005, took just 10 hours, 45 minutes, a world record.
Today’s ceremony was attended by several senior Chinese officials, including Mr. Han Zheng, Mayor of Shanghai and Mr. Chen Liangyu, Communist Party Secretary of Shanghai. Senior Sinopec officials including Mr. Chen Tonghai, General Manager & Chairman of Sinopec, Mr. Wang Tianpu, President, and Mr. Wang Jiming, Vice Chairman, were also present.
Ralph Alexander, CEO of BP’s petrochemicals subsidiary, Innovene, which is expected to hold a significant interest in the joint venture, commented, “When SECCO’s shareholders first came together, they shared a common vision: to create a truly world-class company serving China’s rapidly growing demand for petrochemicals, using the best technology, manufacturing methods and management expertise available. Now, nearly a decade later, that vision has been realised. This is truly one of the most impressive achievements I have witnessed in my 28 years at BP.”
The 220-hectare SECCO facility, the largest petrochemical complex in China to date, was built in just 27 months, 3 months ahead of schedule. Commissioning of SECCO’s 900ktpa cracker, in March 2005, took just 10 hours, 45 minutes, a world record.
Today’s ceremony was attended by several senior Chinese officials, including Mr. Han Zheng, Mayor of Shanghai and Mr. Chen Liangyu, Communist Party Secretary of Shanghai. Senior Sinopec officials including Mr. Chen Tonghai, General Manager & Chairman of Sinopec, Mr. Wang Tianpu, President, and Mr. Wang Jiming, Vice Chairman, were also present.
Ralph Alexander, CEO of BP’s petrochemicals subsidiary, Innovene, which is expected to hold a significant interest in the joint venture, commented, “When SECCO’s shareholders first came together, they shared a common vision: to create a truly world-class company serving China’s rapidly growing demand for petrochemicals, using the best technology, manufacturing methods and management expertise available. Now, nearly a decade later, that vision has been realised. This is truly one of the most impressive achievements I have witnessed in my 28 years at BP.”
- The SECCO manufacturing site, situated in the Shanghai Chemical Industrial Park, is a $2.7bn joint venture between Sinopec, Shanghai Petrochemical Company Limited and BP.
- The site’s production capacities are 900ktpa of ethylene, 600ktpa of polyethylene, 250ktpa of polypropylene, 300ktpa of polystyrene and 260ktpa of acrylonitrile. The ethylene cracker, SECCO’s core asset, is currently the largest in China as well as one of the largest in the world.
- SECCO has a world-class safety record, with zero fatalities during construction out of more than 50 million man hours worked. The site also boasts leading environmental standards.
- SECCO’s letter of intent was signed in 1996; Shanghai SECCO Petrochemical Company Limited was formed in 2001; construction of the site began in 2002 and was completed on December 30, 2004.
- BP’s activities in China include production and import of liquefied natural gas (LNG); supplying aviation fuel; importing and marketing liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) ; fuel retailing; lubricants; solar power installations; joint venture chemical plants and the sales of chemicals technology.
- Innovene was formed as a wholly owned subsidiary of the BP Group on April 1, 2005. Its major manufacturing sites include Grangemouth in Scotland, Lavéra in France, Köln in Germany and Lima, Chocolate Bayou and Green Lake in the U.S.
- As well as its participation in the SECCO joint venture, Innovene sells various products in China imported from its plants in the U.S. and Europe, including polyethylene, polypropylene, acrylonitrile, alpha-olefins and polybutenes. Innovene also licenses its world-class polyethylene and polypropylene technologies in the country.
- The headquarters of Innovene’s Asia operations is also in Shanghai.
- For more information about Innovene, visit www.innovene.com
