How did a stretch of barren hills evolve into a sophisticated modern petrochemical city? How did one single enterprise rewrite the industrial history of Anhui Province?
On the northern outskirts of Anqing City, Anhui Province stands a sprawling, large-scale modern petrochemical base — Sinopec Anqing Petrochemical Company (Anqing Petrochemical). As an extra-large integrated petrochemical enterprise with a glorious 50-year history, it has witnessed extraordinary development changes over half a century.
Back in July 1974, the first wave of entrepreneurship kicked off. A total of 28,000 builders gathered at "Nine Bays and Eighteen Curves" on the northern outskirts of Anqing, a desolate and hilly wilderness. Relying entirely on manual labor, they removed 7 mountain ridges, filled more than 30 ponds, installed massive sets of equipment, and constructed Anhui’s first petrochemical complex. This landmark project filled the blank of petrochemical industry in Anhui Province.
The founding of Anqing Petrochemical bore important national missions. Approved personally by Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai in 1974, the refinery and fertilizer facilities were constructed to secure grain supply and solve the clothing and food demands of hundreds of millions of Chinese people.
On November 9, 1976, qualified gasoline rolled off the production line of its refining unit, putting an end to Anhui’s long history of lacking domestic petroleum product manufacturing. Soon afterward, the fertilizer plant was put into operation. Its Shuanghuan-brand urea became highly popular among farmers in Anhui and neighboring regions, directly boosting local grain yields effectively.
By the 1990s, the once wasteland had turned into a bustling petrochemical city dotted with towering oil distillation towers and crisscross pipelines. It not only broke Anhui’s zero record in petrochemical manufacturing but also drove comprehensive growth of local economy across multiple sectors.
The 50-year development course of Anqing Petrochemical is an epic story of continuous entrepreneurship and breakthroughs.
The refinery and fertilizer facilities were completed, filling the provincial gap in petrochemical industry.
The acrylonitrile and acrylic fiber project was launched, transforming the enterprise from a fuel & fertilizer producer into an integrated group covering oil processing, chemical production, fiber manufacturing and power supply. It was officially listed as a national extra-large enterprise, with a comprehensive crude processing capacity reaching 5 million tons per year.
The landmark 8-million-ton refining & chemical integration project kicked off, with a total investment of 8.1 billion RMB and full commissioning in September 2013. While cutting total pollutant emissions by 50%, the company achieved triple growth in crude processing capacity, sales revenue and profit & tax contributions simultaneously.
The refinery-to-chemical structure adjustment project became the core growth driver. The world’s first 3-million-ton-per-year heavy oil catalytic cracking unit successfully started up, making Anqing Petrochemical a pioneer in the transformation from traditional fuel refineries to chemical-focused refining bases. With a total investment of 8.586 billion RMB, this project will support Anqing to build a nationally influential high-end new chemical materials industrial cluster.
Scientific and technological innovation has always been the core growth engine of Anqing Petrochemical. In 2022, the company carried out 46 technical development projects, winning 5 provincial and ministerial science & technology awards (3 first prizes and 2 second prizes). It filed applications for 8 patents including 7 invention patents, and obtained authorization for 5 patents in total.
Its self-developed flame-retardant acrylic fiber products have expanded downstream applications in work uniforms, aviation blankets and filling materials, and have been exported to overseas markets steadily.
In addition, the enterprise obtained the AAA-level certification for industrialization and informatization integration management system issued by MIIT (Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China). Its "Industrial Internet + Work Safety" project was selected into the 2022 national industrial internet pilot demonstration catalog by MIIT.
As an urban refinery alongside the Yangtze River, Anqing Petrochemical has invested heavily in environmental protection upgrades over the years. The enterprise has poured more than 5 billion RMB into environmental governance, adopting a full-cycle governance model combining source emission reduction, in-process control and end-of-pipe treatment. Multiple key projects were implemented, including gasoline and diesel quality upgrades, blue sky & clear water initiatives, emission standard upgrading and hidden danger rectification.
In March 2023, Anqing Petrochemical was officially certified as a National-level Green Factory by MIIT. Its controlled waste gas compliance rate, external wastewater discharge compliance rate and safe solid waste disposal rate all hit 100%. It has been awarded the Sinopec Green Enterprise title for three consecutive years.
To implement the Yangtze River protection strategy, the company invested over 1 billion RMB to dismantle urban-crossing oil & gas pipeline corridors and hazardous chemical docks. It yielded 440 meters of river shoreline and restored green vegetation covering 80 mu of land, delivering tangible results for Yangtze ecological restoration.
Over the past five decades, Anqing Petrochemical has processed a total of 179 million tons of crude oil, produced 113 million tons of refined oil products and over 32 million tons of various chemical products. Its cumulative tax contribution has surpassed 131 billion RMB, delivering tremendous economic value to national and local development.
Today, it stands as an extra-large integrated petrochemical enterprise with annual operating revenue exceeding 50 billion RMB and annual profit & tax above 10 billion RMB. It owns 47 major production units, with crude processing capacity expanded from the initial 2.5 million tons per year to 8 million tons per year.
Key operational indicators:
For two consecutive years, it ranked No.1 among Anhui provincial state-controlled enterprises in tax contribution top 10 list.
Standing at a new historical starting point, Anqing Petrochemical targets to build itself into a benchmark demonstration enterprise for high-quality urban refining development.
A batch of key investment projects are under accelerated construction:
In August 2025, the newly built SE Oriental Furnace of the C1 project achieved successful one-time startup, realizing full-process connection of the whole C1 upgrade project. The upgrade will greatly lift site safety and environmental performance, cut energy consumption and long-term operating costs substantially.
Looking ahead, Anqing Petrochemical will anchor technological innovation as the fundamental development pillar, strengthen forward-looking technical research and strategic layout, and upgrade independent R&D capabilities continuously. By advancing technological and managerial innovation simultaneously, it will make greater contributions to building a modern and prosperous Anhui Province.
Fifty years of trials and hardships, half a century of persistent advancement. The growth trajectory of Anqing Petrochemical — from scratch, small to large, weak to strong — serves as a vivid epitome of the development of China’s petrochemical industry.
This time-honored enterprise with glorious traditions takes technological innovation as its engine, marches forward steadily on the green and low-carbon track, and strides toward a more efficient, eco-friendly and sustainable long-term development blueprint.
