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China's ethylene equivalent demand may reach 70 million tons by 2025

Source: Petroleum and Chemical Park
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November 7, 2023, 2:44 PM
According to the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, in 2022, China's petroleum and chemical industry achieved 16.56 trillion yuan in operating income and 1.13 trillion yuan in total profits. According to the data of the National Bureau of Statistics, in the first half of 2023, the operating income of the whole petrochemical industry reached 7.6 trillion yuan, down 4.4 percent from the same period last year, and the total profit was 431.09 billion yuan, down 41.3 percent from the same period last year. China's petrochemical industry ranks first in many world scales in the fields of oil refining, ethylene, methanol, PTA and so on.
       by 2025, the national primary processing capacity of crude oil is expected to reach 980 million tons per year, and the average size of refineries will further increase; China's ethylene equivalent demand may reach 70 million tons, then a shortfall of about 12 million tons; China's PX is still in the peak period of capacity expansion, from heavy dependence on imports to self-sufficiency; the rapid growth of new energy industry brings new opportunities for the development of chemical materials The integration of petroleum materials, reducing oil and increasing oil and deep refining and chemical integration has become the main development direction of the petrochemical industry.
01 oil refining: 980 million tons / year of refining capacity in 2025
In 2022, China's primary processing capacity of crude oil will be 920 million tons per year, with an annual processing capacity of 676 million tons and a refining energy utilization rate of 73.5 percent. China's oil refineries are still dominated by Sinopec and PetroChina, together with diversified entities such as CNOOC, Sinochem, Chinese weapons, Yanchang Oil, private enterprises and foreign capital, with a total of 34 refineries of 10 million tons. It is estimated that by 2025, the national primary processing capacity of crude oil will reach 980 million tons per year, and the average size of refineries will be further increased. It is expected that China's refined oil consumption will peak from 2027 to 2028, and the transformation of refineries to increase production of chemical raw materials has become an inevitable development trend for Chinese oil refining enterprises. Under the background of "double control" and "double carbon", the development of clean energy substitution, energy consumption electric energy substitution, vehicle energy saving and fuel substitution is accelerated. The yield of refined oil in the process of crude oil processing will decrease year by year, and the trend of oil reduction and increase is obvious. From 2023 to 2025, the new refining energy in China will mainly focus on Zhenhai Refining and Chemical Industry, Yulong Refining and Chemical Industry, Daxie Refining and Chemical Industry, Huajin Refining and Chemical Industry, Gu Lei Refining and other projects. Among them, Zhenhai Refining and Chemical increased refining capacity of 11 million tons / year, which is expected to be put into production in 2024; Yulong Refining and Chemical Co., Ltd. increased refining capacity of 20 million tons / year, which is expected to be put into production in 2024; Daxie Refining and Chemical Industry increased oil refining capacity of 6 million tons / year, which is expected to be put into production in 2024; Huajin Refining and Chemical increased oil refining capacity of 15 million tons / year, which is expected to be put into production in 2025; Gu Lei Refining and Chemical increased oil refining capacity of 16 million tons / year, which is expected to be put into production in 2025. It is estimated that by 2025, the production capacity of Sinopec will reach 331 million tons per year, accounting for 34 percent; that of PetroChina will reach 232 million tons per year, accounting for 24 percent; the production capacity of other central enterprises, such as CNOOC, will reach 127 million tons per year, accounting for 13 percent; and the production capacity of independent refineries will reach 290 million tons per year, accounting for 29 percent.
02 Ethylene: a shortfall of 12 million tons in 2025
At present, China's ethylene industry has formed a production pattern of "three parts of the world". Among them, Sinopec's total ethylene production capacity is 15.03 million tons per year (including joint ventures), accounting for 32 percent of the national total; other central enterprises, such as PetroChina and CNOOC, have a total ethylene production capacity of 14.15 million tons per year, accounting for 30 percent of the national total; other business entities have a total ethylene production capacity of 18.32 million tons per year, accounting for 38 percent of the national total. Data show that by the end of 2022, China had 66 ethylene production enterprises, with a total capacity of 47.51 million tons per year, double that of 2017 and accounting for 21.4% of the world's total production capacity. Among them, there are 35 enterprises with a production capacity of more than 600000 tons per year and 17 enterprises with a production capacity of more than 1 million tons per year. China's ethylene output in 2022 is about 39.05 million tons, and its equivalent consumption is about 60.37 million tons. The average annual growth rate of ethylene equivalent consumption from 2017 to 2022 is about 6.5%. It is estimated that in 2025, the country's total ethylene production capacity will be about 66 million tons per year, with an output of 58 million tons calculated at an operating rate of 88 percent. With an average annual growth rate of 5.2%, it is estimated that China's ethylene equivalent demand will be about 70 million tons in 2025, with a shortfall of about 12 million tons. Sinopec's ethylene production capacity will reach 20.33 million tons per year, accounting for 30.8 percent. The total ethylene production capacity of central enterprises such as PetroChina reached 22.15 million tons per year, accounting for 33.6 percent, while other enterprises accounted for 35.6 percent of the total capacity.
03 aromatic hydrocarbons: basic balance of supply and demand of PX in 2025
P-xylene (PX) is an important petrochemical product connecting oil refining and chemical industry. it is not only one of the most important products of aromatic hydrocarbons, but also the leading raw material of polyester industry. About 99 per cent of PX is used to produce poly (terephthalic acid) (PTA), which in turn produces polyethylene terephthalate (PET). At present, China's PX is still in the peak period of capacity expansion. China's PX capacity in 2022 nearly tripled that of 2015, and its self-sufficiency rate has risen rapidly, shifting from heavy reliance on imports to self-sufficiency. In the past year, due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, aromatics oil regulation, frequent outbreaks and other events, the overall demand of the PX industry chain is weak. It is expected that in 2023, China's PX supply capacity will continue to improve, the share of imports will continue to decrease, PX profit margins will decline, and the future return to cost pricing (naphtha + processing fee pricing). According to data from the China Center for Economic and technological Development of Chemical Industry, in 2022, PX production will reach 25.6 million tons, with apparent consumption of 36.05 million tons, with a self-sufficiency rate of only 71 percent. In 2025, PX production will reach 40 million tons and apparent consumption will reach 40 million tons, which will reach the balance between supply and demand. In 2022, EG production will be 13.31 million tons, with apparent consumption of 20.78 million tons, with a self-sufficiency rate of only 64 per cent. In 2025, EG production will be 18.6 million tons and apparent consumption 23.05 million tons, and the self-sufficiency rate will increase to 81 per cent. China's supply of PTA and PET will always exceed demand now and in the future.
04 high-end polyolefin: production capacity will increase rapidly
By the end of 2022, China's general-purpose polyethylene resin (excluding EVA, POE) has a production capacity of 31.76 million tons per year. Among them, Sinopec has a production capacity of 10.07 million tons per year, accounting for 31.7 percent; PetroChina and other central enterprises have a total capacity of 13.075 million tons per year, accounting for 41.1 percent; and other enterprises account for 27.1 percent. After 2015, the development of China's EVA began to accelerate, with a production capacity of 2.15 million tons per year in 2022 and a self-sufficiency rate of more than 60 percent. China's POE technology has just made a breakthrough, and only pilot plants are available. China mPE Metallocene polyethylene (metallocene polyethylene) broke through in 2020, producing about 300000 tons in 2022, with a self-sufficiency rate of only about 10%. It is expected that the production capacity of polyethylene in China will increase rapidly from 2024 to 2025. In 2025, China's polyethylene production capacity reached 47.09 million tons per year, Sinopec's share of production capacity dropped to 31.0% from 31.7% in 2022, PetroChina and other central enterprises decreased from 41.1% to 34.7%, and the share of other enterprises increased from 27.1% to 34.3%. From 2023 to 2025, China's annual polyethylene import will remain at a high level of about 10 million tons, and high-end specialty materials, metallocene polyethylene and other varieties will still rely on imports to a certain extent. It is estimated that in 2025, China's EVA self-sufficiency rate will reach more than 80%, and the market will enter a state of full competition; POE will achieve a domestic breakthrough, with a self-sufficiency rate of about 10%; ExxonMobil (Huizhou) mPE plant will be put into production, and China's mPE self-sufficiency rate will also be greatly increased. In 2022, EVA production is 1.68 million tons, apparent consumption is 2.76 million tons, self-sufficiency rate is 60.7%. In 2025, EVA production is expected to be 2.97 million tons, apparent consumption is 3.6 million tons, and self-sufficiency rate is increased to 82.6%. In 2022, POE has not yet been mass produced, with an apparent consumption of 660000 tons and a self-sufficiency rate of 0; it is estimated that in 2025, POE production will be 100000 tons, apparent consumption 900000 tons, and the self-sufficiency rate will rise to 11.0%. In 2022, mPE production will be 300000 tons, with apparent consumption of 2.4 million tons, with a self-sufficiency rate of 12.5%. It is estimated that in 2025, POE production will be 1.2 million tons, apparent consumption 3 million tons, and self-sufficiency rate will increase to 40.0%.
05 new chemical materials: capacity expansion to meet new growth points
China's new chemical materials are entering a period of rapid capacity expansion. Take polycarbonate as an example. After China's technological breakthrough, polycarbonate production capacity increased at an average annual rate of 30% from 2018 to 2022, and reached 3.2 million tons per year in 2022. The level of integration and scale of the industrial chain has been greatly improved, the new devices are all integrated devices of the industrial chain, and the original equipment is also gradually realizing the matching of raw materials. In 2022, China will produce 1.78 million tons of polycarbonate, import 1.39 million tons, consume 2.88 million tons, and have a self-sufficiency rate of more than 60 percent. It is worth noting that despite the substantial increase in production capacity in China, domestic materials are mainly medium-and low-end general-purpose products for sheet / film, and polycarbonates used in high-end, high-value-added fields such as medical, electronics, automotive and optics still need to be imported. With the improvement of the technological level of Chinese enterprises, high-performance and high-quality imported products will gradually achieve domestic substitution, and the self-sufficiency rate of polycarbonate is expected to reach 80% by 2025. Benefiting from the rapid development of new energy, new chemical materials have ushered in new growth points in new energy vehicles, lithium batteries, wind power, photovoltaic and other industries. As the world's largest producer of new energy, China's key components such as photovoltaic modules, wind turbines and gearboxes account for 70 per cent of the global market, which is driving the rapid development of new chemical materials such as unsaturated resins, epoxy resins, carbon fibers, EVA, nitrile rubber and wet electronic chemicals. The production and sales of new energy vehicles in China ranks first in the world for eight years in a row, and it also effectively promotes the development of materials such as lithium iron phosphate, lithium nickel cobalt, graphite, electrolyte solvent, lithium titanate, additives, polyethylene / polypropylene diaphragm and so on. China's wind power infrastructure will increase its installed capacity to 37.6GW in 2022 and is expected to reach 50GW in 2025. The rapid development of wind power industry will drive the demand for related chemical materials, such as carbon fiber, unsaturated resin, epoxy resin, special rubber and elastomers. In 2022, China will consume 1.45 million tons of EVA resin and 250000 tons of POE resin. It is estimated that the demand for photovoltaic EVA resin and photovoltaic POE resin will reach 1.5 million ~ 2 million tons and 280000 ~ 350000 tons respectively in 2025.
06 Chemical Industry Park: will account for more than 70% of the total output value of the industry
Through the construction of a number of world's top petrochemical bases and chemical parks, we can reduce the cost of the whole industry chain to the extreme and form a significant cost advantage. At the peak of industrialization, the chemical park is expected to achieve the largest scale and the lowest cost in the world, and finally complete the transformation from follower to leader in the whole industry chain, and a number of world-class chemical enterprises and chemical parks emerge. According to the data, up to now, there are a total of 643 key chemical parks or industrial parks with petroleum and chemical industries as the leading industries (593 chemical parks announced by various provinces, and the list of chemical parks has not yet been announced in some provinces and cities). Among them, there are 67 national chemical parks (including parks located in national economic and technological development zones, high-tech zones, bonded zones and new areas). In 2022, the operating income of the petroleum and chemical industry is 16.56 trillion yuan, and the output value of the chemical park is about 8.45 trillion yuan, accounting for 51% of the total output value of the industry. By 2025, the output value of the chemical park will account for more than 70% of the total output value of the industry, and the output value target of the chemical park will be 13.5 trillion. From 2022 to 2025, the average annual compound growth rate of the output value of the chemical park should be maintained at more than 16.9%. According to the guidelines for the Development of Chemical Industry Park during the 14th five-year Plan and the medium-and long-term Development Prospect in 2035, the overall development goal of China's Chemical Industry Park during the 14th five-year Plan is to leap from standardized development to high-quality development. to create the "five key projects" of industrial development promotion, green construction, intelligent construction, standardization construction and high-quality development demonstration of chemical parks, and the five world-class petrochemical industry clusters are beginning to take shape. Focus on cultivating 70 chemical parks with first-class competitiveness, and create "5 50". That is, to build 50 scientific innovation centers in the park, to create 50 "green chemical parks", to build 50 "intelligent chemical parks", to formulate and promulgate 50 standards for the management and construction of chemical parks, and to cultivate 50 high-quality development demonstration projects. The standardized construction of chemical park should adhere to the "six integrations". That is, raw material project integration, public works logistics integration, environmental protection and ecological integration, safety and fire emergency integration, intelligent data integration, management and service integration. Source: Petroleum and chemical parks