Sinopec-SK Wuhan Petrochemical Corp, a joint venture between Sinopec China and South Korea’s SK Innovation, has resumed expanding its petrochemical plant in Wuhan (Hubei Province), media reported. Work was suspended earlier this year due to an outbreak of coronavirus, the epicenter of which was Wuhan Chinese. To combat the virus, it was decided to actually block the entire province. Transport restrictions were lifted only at the end of March, when the epidemiological situation began to improve.

The company was introduced in 2013. The pyrolysis capacity is 800 thousand tons of ethylene per year. In August 2018, the company launched a project to expand capacities to 1.1 million tons of ethylene per year. However, in early 2020, work had to be stopped.

Now the expansion of the enterprise resumed. It is planned to build production of low-pressure polyethylene with a capacity of 300 thousand tons per year, polypropylene and butadiene with a capacity of 300 and 60 thousand tons per year, respectively. It was previously planned that the project will be completed in the third quarter of 2020.

Sinopec-SK Wuhan Petrochemical produces ethylene, propylene, polyethylene (low pressure polyethylene and linear polyethylene), polypropylene, monoethylene glycol. The annual capacity for ethylene production reaches 2.5 million tons.