Kuwait’s KPC lines up Total for Chinese joint venture

摘要

Total has emerged as the frontrunner to be the third partner in a $9bn refining and chemicals joint venture planned by Kuwaiti and Chinese state-controlled companies KPC and Sinopec. The decision by KPC to bring Total nto the 300,000 b/d Zhanjiang refining project in the southern province of Guangdong comes just weeks after KPC chief executive Farouk al-Zanki made a high-profile visit to China (WPA, 13 January, p6). KPC says the visit wit- nessed “a breakthrough” in negotiations with Sinopec over access to local market- ng rights. Al-Zanki also pushed for a simultaneous completion in 2014 of the refinery and an integrated 1mn t/yr ethy- ene cracker, which will be KPC’s main money-earner from the project.