China agrees 5-billion-dollar refinery venture with Kuwait

Jul 27, 2006, 13:25 GMT

Beijing - The Chinese government has approved a five billion-dollar oil refinery project between state-owned giant Sinopec and the Kuwait Petroleum Corp, local media said on Thursday.

The project near Nansha in the southern province of Guangdong will be the largest foreign joint investment approved by China and will include a refinery with an annual capacity of 12 million tons, financial daily The First reported.

The National Development and Reform Commission approved the project, the newspaper said.

The Shanghai Daily newspaper said the project was China's 'latest effort to reduce reliance on imported oil and chemical products'.

The Nansha project will also have athe capacity ot produce 1 million tons of ethylene annually.

The government approval of the project follows talks on energy and free-trade last week between officials from china and the six oil- rich nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Kuwait.

More than 40 percent of China's oil imports come from the six Gulf states of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates last year, state media said.