Sinopec Changling Refining & Chemical Company and Sinopec Baling Petrochemical Company are leading enterprises in the modern petrochemical industry of Yueyang City and even Hunan Province. Both are wholly-owned subsidiaries of China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec). In 2022, their industrial output values reached RMB 55.6 billion and RMB 19.2 billion respectively. After the formal merger of the two enterprises, synergies including complementary advantages, differentiated development, integrated resource allocation and maximized comprehensive benefits will be gradually released, fostering a new Sinopec petrochemical giant with an annual output value exceeding RMB 100 billion.
Headquartered in Yueyang, Hunan Province, Sinopec Baling Petrochemical Co., Ltd. is a super-large integrated petrochemical and coal chemical enterprise directly under Sinopec. It ranks as China’s largest lithium-based rubber and caprolactone manufacturer, and a core epoxy resin production base nationwide.
The enterprise operates 50 major production units, supported by complete public utilities including two regional thermal power centers and three sewage treatment plants. Its industrial layout covers five complete product chains: oil refining, synthetic rubber, epoxy resin, caprolactone and coal chemical industry.
In terms of core industrial competitiveness, Baling Petrochemical boasts three leading industry positions. Firstly, it is Asia’s largest and the world’s second-largest lithium-based rubber producer, with world-class manufacturing and catalyst technologies, as well as the most complete product grades and top product quality in China. Secondly, it tops domestic caprolactone production capacity with globally leading process technologies, and has independently mastered cutting-edge technologies such as cyclohexanone ammoximation, esterification hydrogenation for cyclohexanone and slurry-bed hydrogen peroxide production. Thirdly, it is one of China’s top epoxy resin manufacturers and the only epoxy resin producer under Sinopec. It takes the lead in developing environment-friendly epichlorohydrin technology with domestic top-tier comprehensive technical indicators.
Following the vision of building a world-leading chemical materials enterprise, Baling Petrochemical follows the development strategy of "Develop Baling based on local resources; Expand Baling beyond regional boundaries" and promotes multiple large-scale key projects nationwide. Its flagship project, the 600,000-ton-per-year caprolactone relocation and upgrading project in Yueyang, involves a total investment of RMB 15 billion. Upon completion, it will become the world’s largest single-line and most technologically advanced caprolactone production facility.
Sinopec Changling Refining & Chemical refers collectively to two affiliated entities: Sinopec Changling Branch and Sinopec Group Asset Management Changling Branch. Located in Yunxi District, Yueyang, it is a large state-owned enterprise integrating oil refining and fine chemical production.
By current statistics, Changling Refining holds total assets of RMB 10.123 billion. It has a primary crude oil refining capacity of 11.5 million tons per year and comprehensive supporting processing capacity of 8 million tons per year. The enterprise owns 30 core refining and chemical production units, alongside supporting storage, transportation, power supply and environmental protection facilities, with annual specialty chemical output capacity of 470,000 tons.
Its product portfolio covers more than 60 varieties, including gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, naphtha, liquefied petroleum gas, aromatic hydrocarbons, asphalt, propylene oxide and polypropylene. Among them, 17 products have won high-quality product certifications at or above the provincial and ministerial level. On average, Changling Refining processes 7 million tons of crude oil annually, generates RMB 40 billion in operating revenue and creates roughly RMB 10 billion in profits and taxes every year.
The enterprise has achieved landmark technological breakthroughs in recent years. In oil refining, it independently developed the Fluid In-tube Slurry Hydrotreating (FITS) technology, which replaces traditional hydrotreating processes with lower energy and material consumption, simpler operation and streamlined production workflows. In fine chemicals, after 14 years of independent R&D, it realized industrial commissioning of the green Hydrogen Peroxide Propylene Oxide (HPPO) process, breaking long-term technological monopolies held by Western multinational enterprises.
The cross-regional ethylene integration project has progressed steadily in recent years. On March 22, 2022, Sinopec signed a framework cooperation agreement with Hunan Provincial Government for the Yueyang ethylene refining-chemical integration project. On December 26, 2022, supporting infrastructure construction for the 1 million-ton-per-year ethylene project officially started in Yueyang Industrial Park.
With a total investment of RMB 328.5 billion, the project includes 14 new downstream production units: 1 million t/a ethylene unit, EVA unit, HDPE unit, LLDPE unit, aromatics benzene production unit, butadiene extraction unit, MTBE/1-butene unit, pyrolysis gasoline hydrogenation unit, aromatic extraction unit, styrene extraction unit, C5 separation unit, CHPPO unit, phenol/acetone unit and bisphenol A unit. It also covers matched storage, transportation, public utilities and off-site supporting facilities.
This is the largest single industrial investment project in Hunan’s history, ranked first on the list of Hunan’s top 10 industrial projects in 2023. Jointly constructed by Changling Refining and Baling Petrochemical, the mega project requires unified corporate governance to optimize construction progress and operational management, which directly promotes the merger of the two subsidiaries into the new Sinopec Hunan Petrochemical. The merger will greatly accelerate project delivery.
As a core industrial province in central China, Hunan benefits from dual national strategies of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Rise of Central China, which drive local infrastructure and advanced manufacturing expansion. Hunan’s petrochemical industry boasts prominent advantages in crude oil refining and downstream chemical processing. In 2022, the provincial petrochemical sector achieved main business revenue of RMB 288.869 billion and total profits of RMB 14.947 billion. Released in 2022, the 14th Five-Year Development Plan for Hunan Petrochemical Industry targets main business revenue of RMB 350 billion by 2025.
Yueyang hosts the largest integrated chemical industrial base in central and southern China. In 2022, Yueyang’s modern petrochemical output value hit RMB 174 billion, accounting for nearly 60% of Hunan’s total petrochemical output value. The city has 266 large-scale petrochemical enterprises and 66 high-tech petrochemical enterprises, with Changling Refining and Baling Petrochemical acting as dual industry leaders.
Yueyang has set a strategic goal to build the largest petrochemical industrial base in central China under high-quality development requirements. The establishment of Sinopec Hunan Petrochemical via the merger of the two leading enterprises is a core driver to fulfill this target. Currently, Yueyang is pushing forward flagship projects including the 600kt caprolactone upgrading project to improve the oil-refining-to-chemical whole industrial chain.
Upon full operation of the 1 million-ton ethylene integration project, the facility will generate over RMB 20 billion in annual operating revenue. Driven by supporting upstream and downstream industrial clusters, it will bring hundreds of billions of yuan in GDP growth to Yueyang. The project will strongly support Yueyang’s construction as a provincial sub-central city and accelerate the formation of Hunan’s trillion-yuan modern petrochemical core industrial cluster.
