HAIKOU, June 27. /TASS/. Revenues of the oil and gas industry in the southern Chinese province of Hainan grew by 22.4% year-on-year to 153.3 billion yuan (about $22.95 billion) in 2021. This was reported by the Hainan Daily newspaper.
According to the article, the regional government is promoting growth of the investment in the sector. In 2018, Hainan's oil and gas revenues exceeded 100 billion yuan (about $14.97 billion) for the first time in its history.
As the newspaper notes, the province is using its advantages to encourage capital investment in oil and gas exploration, production and refining. Hainan has a unique geographic position, with about 80% of China's oil imports transported through the province's waters. The province is also close to two important markets for petrochemical products - the Gulf of Tonkin and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
CNOOC, China's third-largest oil and gas corporation, has built China's first intelligent offshore supply depot in Hainan. As the newspaper notes, thanks to autonomous robotic systems, the time of loading the necessary materials and equipment at the center was reduced from 30 to five minutes.
Major projects
CNOOC has built 10 million cubic meters of oil and gas storage tanks in the Yangpu Special Economic Development Zone. Last June, the development of the Lingshui 17-2 deepwater gas field began on the Shenhai-1 platform, with wells at a depth of 1,500 meters. This made Hainan the first region in China to produce this type of deepwater fuel.
Another major oil and gas company in China, Sinopec, is currently building an ethylene production plant in Yangpu with a capacity of 1 million tons per year. The facility is expected to be put into pilot operation in September.
A thermoplastic elastomer plant with a capacity of 170,000 tons is being built nearby, which will use the ethylene produced by Sinopec as raw material. As the newspaper points out, construction is 81.21% complete. The facility is expected to be commissioned in November.
June 1, 2020, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council of China published a program for ta free trade port in Hainan. The document provides for the establishment of a special customs zone on this tropical island. The PRC authorities plan to complete the construction of the free port on the territory of the province in 2025, having developed a system of free trade and investment on the island. By 2035, Hainan is expected to have free trade and investment, cross-border capital flows, travel, and freight transportation.