Hengyi’s US$13 bn expansion at Brunei petchem complex

China’s petchem firm Hengyi Petrochemical Co is planning to invest US$13.65 billion to build the second phase of a refinery and petrochemical complex in oil-rich Brunei.

Hengyi, one of the few private Chinese firms operating a refinery outside China, says it plans to add a 14 million-tonne/year (280,000 barrel per day) crude oil refinery and a 2 million-tonne/year paraxylene unit at its complex in Palau Muara Besar.

It will also build a 1.65 million tonnes/year ethylene plant and 2.5 million tonnes/year purified terephthalic acid (PTA) facility. Paraxylene and PTA are key materials for making polyester fibre used in textiles and PET bottles.

Construction will take three years and the investment is expected to bring an additional annual net profit of about US$1.72 billion, the firm said, without giving a date for starting work.

Hengyi in 2019 started up a 160,000-bpd refinery and petrochemical facilities at the same site at Palau Muara Besar.