2018 is over. In this year, petrochemical industry practitioners are facing various challenges, constantly promoting high-quality development with innovation, accelerating the transformation of new and old kinetic energy, and have made successes one after another.

policy planning
2018 is & ldquo; 135 & rdquo; a year of connecting the past and the next in the planning. A large number of industry policies and plans have been introduced in this year, which has a far-reaching impact on the development of the industry.
On January 26, the website of the National Development and Reform Commission was published. Ten departments, including the National Development and Reform Commission, the Energy Bureau, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the State Assets and Assets Commission, the General Administration of Taxation, the General Administration of Industry and Commerce, the General Administration of Quality Inspection, and the General Administration of Safety Supervision, jointly issued a circular to jointly carry out special management of serious violations of laws and regulations and breaches of trust in the Special control targets are crude oil and fuel oil as the main raw materials, and petroleum products such as gasoline and diesel oil are produced through processing and refining. There are serious violations and dishonesty in the aspects of capacity building, safety, environmental protection, energy saving, quality, taxation and operation.
On February 6, the Ministry of Environmental Protection announced that the Comprehensive List of Environmental Protection (2017 edition) had been printed to 14 departments, including the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Commerce and the People's Bank of China. It is found that about nine of the new editions of Directory & ldquo; double high & rdquo; products have become products of petroleum and chemical industries. Among them, & ldquo; double high & rdquo; more products in the field of dye manufacturing 208, organic chemical raw materials manufacturing 199, 156 inorganic salts, 65 chemical pesticides and 47 coatings.
In April, the Ministry of Ecological Environment, the Ministry of Commerce, the Development and Reform Commission and the General Administration of Customs jointly issued the Notice on Adjustment & lt; Catalogue of Import Waste Management & gt; and adjusted the Catalogue of Import Waste Management in batches. According to the announcement, 16 kinds of solid wastes, including waste hardware, ships, automobile parts, smelting slag and waste plastics from industrial sources, were transferred from the Catalogue of Solid Wastes Restricting Import Catalogue which can be used as raw materials into the Catalogue of Solid Wastes Prohibited to Import, which has been implemented since December 31, 2018.
In order to determine measures to deepen VAT reform and further reduce the tax burden of market participants, the executive meeting of the State Council made clear that the VAT tax rate for pesticides, fertilizers and other goods was reduced by 1%, from 11% to 10%, and was officially implemented on May 1, 2018.
On May 31, the State Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance and the Energy Administration jointly issued a new photovoltaic policy, demanding that subsidies be reduced and the scale be limited. Because of exceeding expectations, it is known as the most stringent new photovoltaic policy in history, and the development of new energy industry is facing new challenges.
On July 23, the State Council held a executive meeting. The meeting adopted a plan for the layout of petrochemical industry, requiring priority in safety and environmental protection, and supporting sole or holding investment by private and foreign-funded enterprises to promote industrial upgrading.
On September 5, the State Council issued "Several Opinions on Promoting the Coordination and Stable Development of Natural Gas", which for the first time was fully deployed in terms of increasing production and supply in the upstream, supporting infrastructure in the middle reaches, downstream market construction and improving emergency support system.
In October, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Commerce and the State Administration of Market Supervision jointly issued the "Three-year Action Plan for Improving the Quality of Raw Material Industry (2018-2020)", proposing that by 2020, the quality of raw material products in China will be significantly improved, some high-end products will enter the global supply chain system, the supply structure will be optimized, and the structural reform of raw material industry supply side will be positive. Results. The plan also focuses on the three-year development goals of quality improvement in four sub-sectors, namely, steel, non-ferrous metals, petrochemical and building materials.
In November, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the Guidance Catalogue of Industrial Transfer (2018 edition) again after six years. The 200-page solicitation draft sorted out the industrial development directions of all provinces and cities in the four major sectors of northeast, eastern, central and Western China, listed a total of 107 regional economic development clusters, and clarified the industries that each Province and city preferred to undertake development and guided the optimization and adjustment of industries (including guidance not to undertake any more). Accept or guide industries that gradually withdraw.
In December, the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Energy Administration issued the Clean Energy Abatement Action Plan (2018-2020). They called for significant results in clean energy absorption in 2018 and basically solved the problem of clean energy absorption by 2020.
On December 22, after deliberation and approval by the Tariff and Tax Committee of the State Council and submitted to the State Council for approval, the Provisional Tax Rate Adjustment Scheme for Import and Export in 2019 (hereinafter referred to as the "Program") was officially promulgated, and the import and export tariffs of some commodities were adjusted as of January 1, 2019. Among them, 94 fertilizer products such as potassium nitrate, potassium chloride (fertilizer grade), potassium sulfate, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium ternary compound fertilizer, phosphorus and potassium binary compound fertilizer and apatite (phosphate rock) are no longer subject to export tariffs.
On December 25, 2018, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce issued the "Negative List of Market Access (2018 Edition)" on December 25, 2008. China's negative list system of market access has entered a new stage of full implementation, realizing all market entities outside the list-ldquo; non-prohibited access-rdquo;. All kinds of market participants can enter industries, fields and businesses other than negative lists equally according to law. Ethylene, PX, MDI, petroleum refining, LNG, coal-to-methanol, coal-to-olefins and so on are included in the negative list.

Market trade
In 2018, oil prices experienced a roller coaster ride. Brent crude oil once soared to $85 a barrel, and at the end of the year it unexpectedly fell again to about $50 a barrel, just as people thought the era of $100 a barrel was coming. At the same time, in 2018, the price of chemical products is generally strong as a whole. Although the price has fallen due to the fluctuation of oil price at the end of the year, overall, the chemical market is relatively active in 2018, and the profit is still good.
On March 26, the listing of China's crude oil futures attracted worldwide attention. Crude oil futures are the first global commodity futures listed in China。 This is not only a fruitful result of the development of China's oil industry, but also a demonstration of China's pivotal position in the current global oil market. After the listing of China's crude oil futures, it soon became the third largest crude oil futures trading volume in the world.
On April 3, local time, the website of the U.S. Office of Trade Representatives published a list of imports from China that were proposed to impose tariffs based on the so-called “ 301 survey ”. The list covers about 1300 separate tariff items. The survey is believed to be the trigger of the Sino-US trade war, including many tariff items such as energy, chemical industry and so on. Then, on June 15, the United States unilaterally and arbitrarily issued a list of goods that imposed tariffs on Chinese imports, which would impose 25% tariffs on about $50 billion of goods imported from China. In the early morning of June 16, the Chinese government also imposed the same level of Taxation on imports of the same amount of goods from the United States. On September 17, the Sino-US trade war escalated again. The United States announced that it would impose tariffs on $200 billion of goods from September 24, with a starting rate of 10%. Tariffs will be raised to 25% on January 1, 2019. In addition to the previous $50 billion tax increase, US tariffs on China and Canada have covered half of all US-imported products. On September 18, a spokesman for China's Ministry of Commerce responded that China would have to counteract simultaneously. The Sino-US trade war shocked the world.
At 10:00 on July 12, the Zhuhai Sales Branch of China National Petroleum and Electricity Group launched its first LNG tender transaction through Shanghai Petroleum and Natural Gas Trading Center, with a tender volume of 2000 tons. This is a new trading mode launched by Shanghai Petroleum and Natural Gas Trading Center after listing and bidding. This model is believed to be able to better detect changes in market supply and demand, form market-oriented transaction prices, and guide off-line transaction pricing.
On July 16, bonded 380 fuel oil futures contracts were listed on the Shanghai Futures Exchange. Prior to this, 180 fuel oil futures were listed in 2004, but with the continuous increase of consumption tax, the volume of fuel oil futures began to decline sharply, from October 2017 trading volume completely zero. The listing of 380 fuel oil futures means that fuel oil futures are reborn.
On September 17, after nearly nine months of hard negotiations, the Chinese Joint Negotiating Group on Potassium Fertilizer finally reached an agreement with BPC (Belarus Potassium Fertilizer Company) on China's import contract for potash by sea for 2018-2019. The contract price was $CFR 290, which was 60 dollars/ton higher than the contract price in 2017, but still significantly lower than the increase in South America and other places.
On September 19, China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation and Shanghai Futures Exchange signed a strategic cooperation agreement in Shanghai. According to the agreement, in the future, the two sides will mainly promote research and development of energy futures such as refined oil, natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas, establish efficient exchange mechanism, jointly carry out market promotion and investor education activities. At present, the energy of the previous period has successfully listed three energy futures: crude oil, asphalt and fuel oil, but there are still many gaps in the series of energy futures in China. The Federation of Petrochemical Industry has provided important support in promoting the familiarity of real enterprises with futures, the use of futures for risk management, the construction of China's energy futures market, and the listing and promotion of crude oil futures.
On December 10, ethylene glycol futures were listed on the Dalian Commodity Exchange. The first day's turnover was significantly higher than that of other chemical products such as P P, PVC and plastics. China is the largest producer and consumer of chemical fibers in the world. Ethylene glycol is one of the basic raw materials of chemical fibers industry. Ethylene glycol and PTA are the main raw materials of polyester production. At present, PTA futures have been listed. Ethylene glycol futures will help polyester enterprises to lock in production costs more comprehensively in the futures market.
Investment merger and acquisition
In 2018, large-scale petrochemical projects emerged in endlessly at home and abroad. Mergers and acquisitions in the global industry continued to grow. The petrochemical industry surged and the pattern changed dramatically.
On July 9, under the joint witness of Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang and German Chancellor Merkel, Dr. Bo Mule, Chairman of the Executive Board of BASF Europe Company, and Lin Shaochun, Deputy Governor of Guangdong Province, signed a memorandum of understanding on non-binding cooperation in Berlin, Germany. BASF will set up its third largest Verbund chemical production base in Guangdong Province, with total investment expected to reach $10 billion. It is reported that this will be Basf's largest overseas investment project so far, independently operated by Basf.
On September 5, ExxonMobil signed a series of agreements with Guangdong Province. ExxonMobil will invest US$10 billion in the cooperation document for the construction of a chemical complex project in Daya Bay Petrochemical Industrial Zone, Huizhou. Afterwards, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) announced that it would build a new petrochemical plant in Fujian, becoming the third company to announce a large-scale chemical investment project in China in two months.
In 2018, China's privately-owned refining and chemical enterprises have made a splendid year. These private integrated refining and petrochemical projects are huge in scale, and some of them even exceed those of traditional giants at home and abroad, which will have a far-reaching impact on the downstream market pattern of the oil industry. Mainly include: Zhejiang Petrochemical's 40 million tons/year integration project in Zhoushan City, Shenghong Group's 16 million tons/year integration project in Lianyungang, Huayang Economic and Trade Group and Fujia Group are jointly building 20 million tons/year integration project in Changxing Island, etc. Hengli Petrochemical, in particular, put into operation in December of its 20 million tons/year integrated refining project in Changxing Island, Dalian, announcing the beginning of a new era for China's private petroleum enterprises.
Similarly, in 2018, mergers and reorganizations in the industry are still booming, especially in the agricultural and chemical industries, subversive changes have taken place, and the degree of concentration has further improved. Following the completion of Sinochem Group's acquisition of Syngenta Switzerland in 2017 and the reciprocal merger of Dow Chemistry and Dupont, Bayer Germany acquired Monsanto, the US biotechnology giant, for $63 billion on June 7. On August 16, Basf Group completed its global vegetable business with a total cash price of about 7.6 billion euros.Acquisition of seed business. So far, the global agrochemical industry shuffle has been completed. The industry pattern has changed from the original six giants of Bayer, Monsanto, Syngenta, Dow, Dupont and Basf to the four giants of Bayer, China Chemical Industry, Dow Dupont and Basf.

Environmental protection strategy
2018 is a period of intensive landing of environmental protection policies, such as the Environmental Protection Tax Law, the new version of the Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law and the Reform Plan of the Compensation System for the Damage of Ecological Environment Protection, etc. The Central Committee has put forward to fight against pollution, win the battle of defending the blue sky resolutely, strive to fight the battle of defending the clean water and advance the battle of defending the clean land solidly, and environmental protection supervision and looking back at the storm more fiercely. The expanded functions of the Ministry of Conservation were reorganized into the Ministry of Ecological Environment. The national environmental protection level has been raised to a new level, and the environmental protection pressure in the petroleum and chemical industries has further increased.
On January 23, the Ministry of Environmental Protection issued "Opinions on Further Improvement of Pollutant Acceptance Ponds" and proposed that industrial pollution acceptance ponds containing waste acid, waste oil, heavy metals, organic pollutants and other industrial wastes should be taken as the focus of treatment, resulting in the concentration level of pollutants in surface water, groundwater or soil significantly higher than the environmental background value of the site.
April 1, the first day of the first levy period of environmental protection tax, was issued to chemical enterprises. Shanghai Pudong New Area Tax Bureau issued China's first environmental protection tax. BASF New Materials Co., Ltd. financial personnel received the first environmental protection tax, which is also the first environmental protection tax in the country. The issuance of the first environmental protection tax ticket marks the smooth implementation of environmental protection tax throughout the country. Through tax leverage, sewage discharge units are guided to reduce pollutant emissions, protect and improve the environment and promote the construction of ecological civilization.
On April 16, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment was officially launched under the "Program for Deepening the Reform of Party and State Institutions". The newly established Ministry of Ecological Environment integrates the responsibilities of the former Ministry of Environmental Protection with those of six other departments. It is responsible for formulating and organizing the implementation of ecological environment policies, plans and standards, unified responsibility for ecological environment monitoring and law enforcement, supervision and management of pollution prevention and control, nuclear and radiation safety, and central environmental protection supervision.
In mid-April, CCTV exposed serious pollution in several chemical parks in Lianyungang and Yancheng, Jiangsu Province. Subsequently, the government of Jiangsu Province convened a conference on the renovation of coastal chemical parks in Lianyungang to renovate all chemical parks and all chemical production enterprises in the three municipalities of Nantong, Lianyungang and Yancheng.
On May 7, the ministerial meeting of the Ministry of Ecological Environment considered and approved in principle the Draft Measures for Mandatory Liability Insurance for Environmental Pollution. The compulsory insurance coverage includes oil and gas exploitation, basic chemical raw material manufacturing, synthetic material manufacturing, chemical raw material pharmaceutical manufacturing, etc.
On May 28, the website of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment announced that the Ministry of Ecology and Environment specially studied and formulated "Prohibition of Environmental Protection & ldquo; One-size-fits-all & rdquo; Opinions on Work", and put forward strict prohibition of & ldquo; All closures & rdquo; & ldquo; Stop first and then say & rdquo; and other perfunctory measures to resolutely avoid simple and crude acts such as centralized shutdown and shutdown of production. For those who have legal procedures and meet the requirements of environmental protection, no centralized shutdown measures shall be taken.
On July 28, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment launched a special law enforcement action on ozone-depleting substances (ODS). The illegal use of polyurethane rigid foaming agent CFC-11 (trichlorofluoromethane) will become a key area of law enforcement, and the elimination of foaming agent ODS is on the verge of arrow.
On October 24, the Petrochemical Green Process List (2018 edition), compiled by the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, was published in China Chemical Daily and the National Petroleum and Chemical Network. The catalogue includes 20 items, including half-water-mdash, dihydrate/half-water wet-process phosphoric acid process and formaldehyde process of amide herbicides. These 20 processes are superior, superior, and directly related to the production of products. They have been industrialized and the market demand for the products is good. Compared with other processes in the current market, the selected process has excellent comprehensive performance in product quality, comprehensive energy consumption, & ldquo; three wastes & rdquo; emissions, raw material consumption and other aspects, and has a better promotion value in the industry.
On the morning of December 4, Jiangsu Provincial Higher People's Court pronounced the second instance judgment in the case of Jiangsu Provincial People's Government v. Anhui Hyde Company for compensation for ecological environment damage, and maintained the first instance judgment. Hyde Company applied for payment of compensation in batches of 54,828,500 yuan on the premise of providing effective guarantee. It is reported that this is the first time that the Jiangsu Provincial People's Government has filed an environmental damage compensation lawsuit as a plaintiff alone. It is also the first time in China that the provincial government has acted as a plaintiff in environmental damage compensation cases.
Safety alarm bell
In 2018, the situation of safety production in petrochemical industry is still very grim. Chemical Plant Maintenance accidents and chemical transport accidents occur from time to time. Major accidents have not been effectively controlled. Especially in the second half of the year, Yibin 7-bull, 12 major explosion accidents and Zhangjiakou 11-bull, 28 major explosion accidents occurred, causing horrifying casualties.
On the evening of January 6, a Panamanian tanker collided with a Hong Kong bulk carrier from China about 160 nautical miles east of the Yangtze Estuary. The oil tanker carrying 136,000 tons of condensate oil caught fire and sank, and 32 crew members were lost; the bulk carrier was damaged, but 21 crew members were rescued. The accident also caused a large area of oil pollution on the sea surface and serious water pollution.
Similar chemical transport accidents occurred in 2018. On January 15, a tanker car of Yongan Town Zhongtong Transportation Co., Ltd. in Kenli District, Dongying City, Shandong Province, exploded during loading, resulting in three deaths. On the evening of April 10, a dangerous explosive transport vehicle exploded in Anxian County, Shangluo Town, Shaanxi Province, causing 7 people to lose contact and 13 people to be injured. In the early morning of April 21, a traffic accident happened in Tianshui, Gansu Province. A truck carrying the chemical phosphorus pentosulfide caught fire, and the chemical raw materials of the vehicle cargo phosphorus pentosulfide burned, causing 1 death and 1 injury. On May 5, an accident of overturning a vehicle transporting dangerous chemicals (potassium hydroxide) occurred in Aba County, Sichuan Province, on line G347, causing 1.One person died, one was seriously injured and a small amount of potassium hydroxide leaked. On June 10, 24 people were injured and hospitalized in Qinglong Shazi section of PetroChina Natural Gas Pipeline. In the early morning of June 28, a rear-end collision between two trucks occurred in Yingshang County, Anhui Province. One of the trucks leaked petrol and ignited vehicles and roadside houses. The fire caused 8 deaths and 4 injuries.
On March 12, an explosion and fire broke out in the raw material buffer tank of 600,000 tons/year diesel hydrogenation unit of Sinopec Jiujiang Branch, killing two people and injuring one. The accident happened in the national & ldquo; the two sessions & rdquo; during which the impact was bad.
On May 12, a flash explosion accident occurred during the inspection and repair of a benzene tank in SECCO Petrochemical Company, which resulted in the death of six on-site workers of Shanghai Ekinco Engineering Construction Services Co., Ltd., the contractor of the inspection and repair operation. The accident resulted in direct economic losses of about 11.66 million yuan, of which equipment losses of about 5.36 million yuan.
On July 12, a detonation accident occurred in Yibin Hengda Technology Co., Ltd. in Yangchun Industrial Park, Jiang'an County, Yibin City, resulting in 19 deaths and 12 injuries. On July 17, the Ministry of Emergency Management held a meeting on the scene of major explosion and fire accidents, which was the most fatal accident in China's chemical enterprises since 2012, and also the most serious one with the most violations of laws and regulations.
On November 7, an explosion occurred in the tail gas burner of the gas-making workshop of Hebei Jinwantai Chemical Fertilizer Co., Ltd., which resulted in 6 deaths, 2 serious injuries and 5 minor injuries.
On November 28, a major explosion accident caused by the leakage of vinyl chloride gas holder occurred in Shenghua Chemical Co., Ltd., Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province, which resulted in 23 deaths and 22 injuries; 38 large trucks and 12 small trucks overfired, causing heavy casualties and heavy losses.
At 10:25 on December 18, during the commissioning of the pilot production equipment of the technical renovation project of 300 tons of fluorocytosine and 200 tons of ammonium fluoride produced annually by Zhongchang Chemical Co., Ltd., Rugao City, Nantong City, physical explosions occurred in the hydrogen fluoride condensator and cooler, resulting in three deaths from hydrogen fluoride poisoning.
In view of many accidents, the Ministry of Emergency Management urges all parts of the country to learn lessons from accidents, strengthen the implementation of key work of safety supervision of chemical and dangerous chemicals, and resolutely prevent and curb major accidents. It is proposed to strengthen the professional capacity building of grass-roots supervisors and promote the cultivation of chemical professionals.
On December 19, the China Federation of Petroleum and Chemical Industries issued the Notice of Special Action on Safety and Environmental Protection Promotion in the Petroleum and Chemical Industry, which marked the official launch of the special action to enhance safety and environmental protection in the industry. The special action will be divided into three stages: self-examination, spot check and summary review from the date of issuance to the end of February 2019. It is hoped that through this action, the safety and environmental protection consciousness of the whole industry will be further enhanced, the main responsibility of the enterprise will be fulfilled, the safety and environmental protection management on site will be standardized, the ability of dealing with emergencies in the operation of the enterprise will be strengthened, and all kinds of accidents in the petrochemical industry will be effectively curbed and the level of safety and environmental protection management in the petroleum and chemical industry will be improved.
On December 28, a three-day expert training meeting on safety guidance services in key counties of dangerous chemicals was concluded in Beijing. The development of expert training also marks the official start of safety guidance service in key counties of dangerous chemicals of the Ministry of Emergency Management. In order to deeply absorb the lessons of major deflagration accidents in Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province, we should conscientiously implement the work deployment of the Party Group of the Ministry of Emergency Management, strengthen the management and control of major risks, effectively prevent and resolutely curb safety accidents with larger chemical production. The Ministry of Emergency Management has decided to organize relevant units to form about 10 expert groups on safety production guidance and service, which will take three years. To assist the local authorities in providing guidance services to 50 key counties of hazardous chemicals in China, to promote the improvement of safety supervision capabilities and to promote the implementation of the main responsibility of enterprises for safety in production.
technological innovation
In 2018, the petrochemical industry will continue to strengthen independent innovation, aim at the international frontier, seize a number of technological commanding heights, and strive to achieve transformation, upgrading and leapfrog development.
On January 8, the 2017 National Science and Technology Award Conference was solemnly held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. In 2017, a total of 271 award-winning projects were selected, of which 213 were general-purpose projects. Among the general-purpose award-winning projects, 46 petroleum, chemical and chemical projects have won awards, covering the fields of oil, gas and new materials to ensure the supply of national energy and important raw materials, environmental protection governance and energy saving and emission reduction to improve people's livelihood and build an environment-friendly industry, which demonstrates the industry's strong strength in scientific and technological innovation.
On April 26, the first domestic air compressor unit for 100,000 cubic meters air separation unit developed by Shengu Group, Hangzhou Automobile Group and applied by Shenhua Ning Coal Group passed the appraisal of China Machinery Industry Federation and China General Machinery Industry Association. The expert group agreed that this unit filled the domestic gap and broke the monopoly of foreign technology, which is another historic breakthrough in the localization of major equipment in China.
On June 21, three environmental protection & ldquo; MCT suspension bed hydrogenation complete set of Industrial Technology & rdquo; (hereinafter referred to as & ldquo; MCT Technology & rdquo); passed the appraisal of authoritative expert organizations organized by China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, which means that China's heavy oil processing technology has made a major breakthrough and reached the international leading level. This technology is of great significance for promoting the technological progress of inferior heavy oil processing in China, ensuring the national energy security and enhancing the economic benefits of enterprises.
In August, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the Circular on Publishing the Guidelines for Industrial Transformation and Upgrading Funds (Departmental Budget) Projects in 2018. The Circular pointed out that around the goal of building a strong manufacturing country, it mainly supported the capacity-building of manufacturing innovation centers, the enhancement of synergistic capability of industrial chains, the industrial common service platform, and the first application insurance of new materials, with a total of 13 key tasks.
On September 28, Shanghai Chemical Industry Zone held the Shanghai International Conference on the Construction and Promotion of New Materials Innovation Center. At the meeting, Shanghai Chemical Industry ZoneThe implementation measures of special support for promoting scientific and technological innovation and achievement transformation were officially promulgated in order to create an excellent innovation and entrepreneurship ecology in Shanghai Chemical Industry Zone, attract high-end talents, research teams and innovative enterprises at home and abroad, and make it an important platform for the transformation of new chemical materials achievements, industrial cultivation and international academic and technological exchanges.
On November 28, & ldquo; China's single largest high-efficiency synthetic gas ethylene glycol plant was successfully put into operation & rdquo; the ceremony was held in Beijing. The equipment takes the purified gas of the low temperature methanol washing unit as raw material and adopts the advanced synthetic gas indirect production technology of ethylene glycol. It can not only reduce the dependence of crude oil import, but also realize the clean and efficient utilization of coal. It marks a new breakthrough in the key technology of modern coal chemical industry in China, and the industry of syngas to ethylene glycol has entered the era of ldquo, large plant-rdquo.
On December 3, the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation Science and Technology Awards Conference was solemnly held in Beijing. The conference commended 36 awards for technological inventions, such as key technologies and applications for low energy consumption and high efficiency recovery of waste resources under harsh conditions in the process industry, 205 awards for scientific and technological progress, such as key technologies for indirect liquefaction of 4 million tons/year coal and development and application of major equipment.
On December 18, the project of green, efficient and megaton ethylene technology development and industrial application completed by 10 units such as Sinopec Engineering Construction Co., Ltd. passed the appraisal of scientific and technological achievements organized by China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation. The technological achievements have led to the continuous innovation of ethylene technology and promoted the rapid development of ethylene industry and related downstream industries.
On December 21, the green process project of preparing dimethyl carbonate/ethylene glycol (DMC/EG) from Carbon Dioxide Catalyzed by immobilized ionic liquids passed the appraisal of scientific and technological achievements organized by China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province. This technological achievement is the first in the world, which opens up a new way for the resource utilization of carbon dioxide, energy saving of existing ethylene glycol process and extending the industrial chain of ethylene oxide.
In the past year, the petrochemical industry has focused on accelerating the cultivation of new energy, new chemical materials, high-end specialty chemicals, modern coal chemical industry and energy-saving and environmental protection industries, striving to form a number of core technologies with strategic, symbolic and leading industries, as soon as possible to form a number of leading industries with growth point significance, and to form the industrial characteristics and competition of our petrochemical industry. Compete for advantages, so that the overall technical level of the industry into the world's advanced ranks.

Reform and Opening-up
2018 is the 40th anniversary of reform and opening up, and further deepening reform has become the theme of 2018.
On January 23, the Xinjiang Land and Resources Exchange Center for the first time listed five exploration rights for oil and gas exploration blocks, and seven domestic enterprises participated in the bidding. A total of three enterprises successfully competed for blocks, including a private enterprise. This also means that the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry is gradually opening up.
On April 14, the State Council issued the Guiding Opinions on Supporting Hainan's Comprehensive Deepening of Reform and Opening-up, which stimulated new imagination of the market. The Guiding Opinions make it clear that Hainan will be a demonstration area for the reform of electric power system and oil and gas system. The effect of reform will benefit the energy industry. Energy appeared in many places in the document, including system reform, energy industry and new technology. Oil and gas, combustible ice, refineries, strategic energy reserve bases and other traditional energy fields are mostly implemented by oil and gas central enterprises. Investment opportunities such as renewable energy, new energy vehicles, photovoltaic, marine renewable energy are more realistic.
On May 25, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the Notice on Rationalizing the Price of Resident Valve Stations, which said that the price management of resident gas will be changed from the highest gate station price management to the benchmark gate station price management, and will be in line with the current price of non-resident gate stations. Industry insiders said that the combination of resident and non-resident gas prices is good for upstream gas supply companies. The accelerated landing of natural gas price reform is conducive to the realization of natural gas price marketization.
On June 28, the State Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce issued the Special Management Measures for Foreign Investment Access (Negative List) (2018 Edition), which abolished the restrictions on the holding of more than 30 foreign-funded chain gas stations by the Chinese side. Up to now, the downstream links of domestic oil are fully open. In 2018, BP and Shell also announced plans to expand gas stations in China. What kind of competitive situation will China's refined oil market usher in will be expected.
On July 10, in order to implement the major measures taken by the State to further expand its opening up and speed up the establishment of a new open economy system, Shanghai formulated ldquo; 100 rdquo action plans for expanding its opening up.
On July 20, President Xi Jinping and the leaders of the United Arab Emirates witnessed the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on Strengthening Practical Cooperation in Key Areas by He Lifeng, Director of the National Development and Reform Commission of China, and Sultan, Minister of State of the United Arab Emirates. The two sides will cooperate pragmatically in key areas such as capacity cooperation zones and financial platforms, mutual investment funds, energy upstream and downstream industry chains.
On the morning of November 5, the opening ceremony of the first China International Import Expo was held in the National Convention and Exhibition Center of Shanghai. President Xi Jinping attended the opening ceremony and delivered a keynote speech. China International Import Expo is the first large-scale national exhibition in the world with import as its theme. It demonstrates China's determination to open up to the outside world. PetroChina, Sinopec, CNOOC, Sinochem, Sinochem and other state-owned enterprises affiliated to the State-owned Petrochemical Commission all organize trade sub-groups.
Looking forward to 2019, the reform and opening up will be further deepened, the reform of the petroleum and chemical industries will continue, and the development of the petrochemical industry will be more colorful. We look forward to seeing you still with us to witness the story of the new era.