Italian oil and gas company Eni, announced that it has sold the licence and basic engineering project to the Chinese company Sinopec, for the construction of a refining plant based on the Eni Slurry Technology (EST), at the Sinopec refinery in Maoming, in Guandong province.
Sinopec, will use Eni’s EST, aiming to convert refining residues entirely into high-quality light products, minimizing, at the same time, liquid and solid refining residues with important environmental benefits.
Namely, Sinopec will construct an EST plant, which will have a capacity of 46,000 barrels per day of heavy refining residue (310 tonnes per hour). The new plant will replace the existing pet-coke production line, and will offer significant environmental benefits, which comply with new IMO’s regulations about sulphur contained in bunker fuel. The elimination of pet-coke production will enable the reduction of CO2 emissions.
According to the agreement, Eni will provide Sinopec with the basic engineering project and other services, like operational and technical training, as well as assistance during the development phase and the implementation of detailed engineering, and during the pre-commissioning and start up phases.
Moreover, Sinopec will be responsible for the engineering and construction operations, with the plant having being completed by 2020.
