The project, undertaken by Shenghong Petrochemical with an investment of 67.7 billion yuan (about $10 billion), has an annual processing capacity of 16 million tons of crude oil.

Shenghong is one of the three major private petrochemical refining projects supported by the State Council, said Ma Shiguang, mayor of Lianyungang city, adding that the operation of the project will be of great significance in accelerating the transformation and upgrading of the industrial structure in the city.

The project broke China's records in a number of technological fields and boasts the largest atmospheric and vacuum distillation unit.

The project is expected to play a key role in bridging crude oil refining and high-end chemical engineering, and raising the localization rate of crucial chemical products.

Lianyungang is one of the country's major petrochemical industrial bases.