The Shanghai Petrochemical Company Limited (SPC), China's leading petrochemical producer, is preparing to start a large joint venture with Britain's BP.

Lu Yiping, SPC's chairman and general manager, said the venture, with a designed annual production capacity of 650,000 tons of ethylene, is expected to turn his company into one of the world's top petrochemical corporations.

Located in southwest of Shanghai, SPC is a highly integrated petrochemical complex whose main products are synthetic fibers, plastics, and various other kinds of petroleum products.

SPC began a series of technical improvement programs several years ago, and one, completed last year, increased the 300,000-tonethylene production capacity to 400,000 tons.

By year 2005, when all the programs are completed, the company's annual oil refining capacity is expected to reach eight million tons and ethylene production capacity 1.5 million tons.

The Chinese government has listed the petrochemical industry asone of the country's development priorities for the 1996-2010 period.

Shanghai has also made the petrochemical industry a new economic focus and has decided to build a new chemical industrial zone around SPC.