(Yicai  Global) Dec. 6 -- China National Petroleum Corporation, the country's  largest energy company, has started construction on a CNY65.4 billion  (USD9.5 billion) integrated chemical plant and oil refinery with  contracting partner Petróleos de Venezuela in the southern province of  Guangdong.

With  an expected annual output of 20 million tons upon completion, the  project represents CNPC's largest ever single investment, state-backed  China News Service reported. Trial operations are slated to start in  2021. 

Located  on a plot in Dananhai Petrochemical Industrial Park near Jieyang  covering more than 2,300 acres, the plant will use Venezuelan  extra-heavy inferior and Middle Eastern crude to produce products such  as gasoline, kerosene and diesel, and chemical products like  polyethylene, polypropylene, styrene and butadiene.

The  facility will feature 41 processors while contractors will also build  supporting facilities such as terminals, long-distance pipelines,  transit warehouses and a railway network. 

The  project will also involve an investment of around CNY7.3 billion in  environmental protections based on the highest national standards with  clean production technology for processing waste and reducing pollution.