China’s newest refiner Shandong Yulong Petrochemical has brought online its second steam cracker unit in the past two weeks, three sources familiar with the matter said on Monday.

The 1.5 million metric ton per year unit produced on-spec ethylene slightly after mid-September, two of the sources said, with one adding that the unit has ramped up output to “high rates”.

The company did not immediately respond to a Reuters query for comment.

The refiner now operates two 200,000 barrel-per-day crude oil units at the $20 billion complex built on a man-made island in the Longkou county of Yantai city, having started its first 1.5 million tpy steam cracker late last year.

Ethylene is used to produce plastics, in agriculture to ripen fruit, and as a building block in some other chemicals.

The refiner, a joint venture between private aluminium smelter Nanshan Group, provincial government-backed Shandong Energy Group and two local companies, has yet to begin output of another product, paraxylene, at the site, two of the sources said.

It launched a public consultation on September 1 for the construction of a paraxylene production unit, according to an earlier notice on the Longkou government site.
Source: Reuters