Chinese oil refiner Sinopec plans to build a refinery and crude oil storage facility in the region of Guangxi on China's south coast.
Sinopec has signed a 1.12 billion agreement with the city of Beihai on the Gulf of Tonkin and will construct a 3.2 million tonne crude oil storage facility as well as an oil dock at the nearby port of Weizhou.
The project is expected to include a refinery and two pipelines – one delivering oil products from Beihai to the regional capital of Nanning and the other delivering crude oil from the port of Tieshan to Zhenjiang.
China aims to create a Gulf of Tonkin oil production base aimed at improving the country's commercial reserve capacity as well as relieving local fuel shortages.
Sinopec's rival, the China National Petroleum Corp, is scheduled to complete its own 10 million tonne per year refinery in Guangxi by the end of this year.
