Multinational chemical company LyondellBasell signed a joint-venture agreement with China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec), China's largest oil refiner, on Tuesday.

The two parties will set up a 50-50 joint venture company to expand the production of propylene oxide (PO) and styrene monomer (SM) in China.

The joint venture company will build a plant in the city of Ningbo, in east China's Zhejiang Province, by the end of this year, with an annual output of 275,000 tonnes of propylene oxide and 600,000 tonnes of styrene monomer.

The demand for propylene oxide and styrene monomer in China will increase against the backdrop of China's sustained economic growth, according to Torkel Rhenman, executive vice-president of LyondellBasell.

With expanding investment in China, LyondellBasell has five wholly-owned factories in the cities of Suzhou, Changshu, Dongguan, Guangzhou and Dalian. Enditem