Joint feasibility study completed and currently under review.

CNPC, Royal Dutch Shell and Qatar Petroleum International (QPI) today signed the heads of agreement for a proposed integrated refinery, petrochemical and marketing project in the Chinese city of Taizhou, in the Zhejiang province near the country’s east coast.

“The joint feasibility study for the project has been completed and is under review by the three partners,” a Shell spokesperson told GTForum.

Under the terms of the agreement, CNPC will hold a controlling 51% stake in the project, with Shell and Qatar Petroleum both holding 24.5% stakes.

“We’re working closely with the relevant government bodies in China to progress the project and we’ll be awaiting their approval…,” says the spokesperson, who was not authorised to provide details of the scale or estimated cost of the project.

On October 10, 2011, the three companies signed a co-operation framework agreement with the Taizhou municipal government, “to jointly build a refining and petrochemical complex in Taizhou, Zhejiang province”, according to a CNPC statement.

The statement dated October 13, 2011 says: “The Taizhou refining and petrochemical project will refine imported condensate to produce ethylene and other petrochemicals. It will spur the construction of many midstream and downstream petrochemical projects, highly raise local self-sufficiency rate of petrochemical products, and promote the industrial transformation and upgrading in Zhejiang province.”