Three contracts under the ethylene expansion program for China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. Maoming Company (Sinopec Maoming Co.), namely contracts for ethylene cracking heaters, ethylene recovery and high density polyethylene (HDPE) production were signed in Beijing on December 19, 2003.  Mr. Wang Jiming, Vice Chairman and President of China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) attended the signing ceremony and delivered a speech to congratulate the signing of these three technology contracts.  He commented that the launching of the 800,000 MTA Maoming ethylene expansion program will not only boost the optimization of Sinopec's product slate of ethylene and derivatives, improve product quality, increase economic returns, but also helps strengthen the overall competitiveness of Sinopec, especially it helps increase Sinopec's market share in South China where ethylene and related chemical products have the highest demand. Among the three technology contracts, ethylene cracking heater and recovery adopt the advanced technology jointly developed by Sinopec and ABB Lummus Global of the U.S., and HDPE employs the loop slurry process from Chevron Phillips of the U.S.

The overall schedule of Maoming ethylene expansion program is 32 Months.  Currently, all front-end project preparation work, such as the technology licensing, equipment procurement and engineering design etc, are well under way with a fast pace. It is planned that General Design will be completed by February 2004, civil construction engineering will get started in July 2004 and in July 2006, the project shall be completed and put into operation. After the expansion program, Maoming's ethylene capacity will be increased from 380,000 MTA to 800,000 MTA, and synthetic resin from 440,000 MTA to 1,020,000 MTA, total product throughput will be increase from 1,100,000 MTA to 2,300,000 MTA, and so make it available to provide more high quality, high value-add ethylene derivative products. At the same time, Maoming Ethylene Expansion Program fully utilizes the exiting facilities, infrastructure and utilities and takes advantage of scale economy, therefore, will enjoy very good economic returns.