On July 15th, Zhilun New Materials and Sinopec Ningbo Zhenhai Refining & Chemical Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Zhenhai Refining & Chemical") signed a letter of intent for joint venture in Ningbo. Both parties expressed that they will fully leverage their respective advantages to jointly build a high-end specialty epoxy resin production base, and jointly contribute to the high-quality development of China's new materials industry.

This strategic cooperation is an important practice for both parties to actively align with Sinopec Group's "second-round entrepreneurship" strategic deployment and implement industrial upgrading tasks. It will focus on the localization of key materials for high-end electronic resins, create a globally competitive special epoxy resin industry carrier, and establish a solid core material guarantee for the domestic chip and other industrial and supply chains to be autonomous, safe, and controllable.

Align strategic direction with deep integration into industrial development plans

The 2026 working conference of China Petrochemical Corporation clearly outlined the overall path for high-quality development of enterprises, proposing to comprehensively embark on a new journey of secondary entrepreneurship for enterprise transformation, upgrading, quality improvement, and efficiency enhancement. It anchored the core task of cultivating and expanding new productive forces, and coordinated the implementation of six major development strategies: innovation drive, transformation and upgrading, resource guarantee, market expansion, cost leadership, and open cooperation. It aims to build a new industrial pattern of "one base, two wings, three chains, and four new aspects", with energy resources as the foundation, refining and chemical industry as the two wings, refined oil products, natural gas, and chemical products as the three sales chains, and new energy, new materials, new business forms, and new tracks as the new growth poles.

The joint effort between the two parties to enter the high-end specialty epoxy resin market is a precise implementation measure by China Petrochemical Corporation to expand into new material and new market segments and cultivate and enhance new productive forces, which is highly aligned with the industrial orientation of the national strategy for the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta.

Relying on core strengths, let's jointly build a high-energy platform for industrial aggregation

Zhenhai Refining & Chemical Company, a key and backbone refining and chemical enterprise under the umbrella of Sinopec, is situated in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province. Its predecessor, the Zhejiang Refinery, was founded in 1975. Presently, Zhenhai Refining & Chemical boasts a crude oil processing capacity of 40 million tons per year, an ethylene production capacity of 2.5 million tons per year, a managed terminal throughput capacity of approximately 120 million tons per year, and a tank storage capacity of around 18 million cubic meters. With total managed assets exceeding 100 billion yuan and covering an area of approximately 23.1 square kilometers, the company is deeply integrated into the national strategy for the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta. It is steadily advancing the implementation of an industrial structure featuring "40 million-ton refining and 4 million-ton ethylene," comprehensively shaping an integrated innovation ecosystem encompassing "production, sales, research, application, and promotion," accelerating the construction of a hub for original technology innovation, high-growth "chain-leader" enterprises, and high value-added industries, and striving to build a higher-quality "world-class, high-tech, integrated" green petrochemical base.

This collaboration will deeply integrate Zhenhai Refining & Chemical's profound full-industry chain expertise, refining and chemical integration raw material advantages, and mature park supporting capabilities with Zhilun New Materials' technological innovation strengths and market insight capabilities. It will link the complete industry chain from propylene to specialty epoxy resin, relying on the dual path of "technological innovation + project implementation" to lay a solid foundation for the construction and operation of the joint venture project.

Jointly shoulder the mission of the times and embark on a new journey of exploring high-end materials together

Conference venue

At the signing ceremony, both parties and the attending guests placed high expectations on the value of this strategic cooperation

Du Biao, the chairman of the company, said

Based on the comprehensive industrial chain expertise of Zhenhai Refining and Chemical, and fueled by the technological innovation and market insight of Zhilun New Materials, the joint venture will surely grow rapidly into a "domestic first-class and internationally leading specialty epoxy resin enterprise", jointly enhancing the global market share and industry influence of China Petrochemical's epoxy resin business.

Zhi Maoxuan, Chairman and Secretary of the Party Committee of Zhenhai Refining and Chemical, said

The strategic cooperation between Zhenhai Refining & Chemical and Zhilun New Materials is a timely move by both parties to conform to the trend of science, industry, finance, and innovation, and to jointly shoulder the mission of the times. It is a pragmatic strategy to implement the innovation-driven development strategy and cultivate new productive forces. Furthermore, it is a strategic move to focus on the "bottleneck" issues of key materials and seize the commanding heights of high-end new materials. This collaboration between the two parties will fully leverage the integrated refining and chemical raw material advantages and the supporting capabilities of the park, deeply integrate with Zhilun New Materials' technical expertise, connect the entire industry chain from propylene to specialty epoxy resin, and jointly build a world-class production base for specialty epoxy resin. This will provide solid material support for the self-reliance and controllability of national industrial chains such as chips, lay a solid foundation for the high-quality development of the digital economy, and contribute more "Zhenhai strength" to enhancing the global competitiveness of China's new materials industry.

Government and industry representatives

Sun Dahai, member of the Standing Committee of the Zhenhai District Committee of Ningbo, Deputy Secretary of the Party Working Committee of Ningbo Petrochemical Development Zone, and Deputy Director of the Management Committee, as well as Dong Bangqi, Secretary-General of the Copper Clad Laminate Materials Branch of the China Electronic Materials Industry Association, also delivered speeches at the signing ceremony, expressing their hope that the strong alliance between Zhenhai Refining and Chemical and Zhilun New Materials will make positive contributions to building a high-end electronic chemical industry, opening up a domestic substitution chain for key materials of high-end epoxy resin, and promoting the transformation and upgrading of the regional petrochemical industry.

Pan Yijun, Director of the Industrial Development Bureau of Ningbo Petrochemical Economic and Technological Development Zone, Xiao Chaojun, General Manager of Sunny Optical Industry Investment, and other special guests, as well as Li Ganghui, Executive Deputy General Manager of Zhilun New Materials, Hong Bo, Deputy General Manager of Zhenhai Refining and Chemical, Wang Yan, Deputy Chief Political Engineer, and other relevant leaders, attended the signing ceremony together.

In the future, both parties will take this signing as a starting point, steadily advance the follow-up implementation work, and jointly accelerate the pace of industrial upgrading in the high-end specialty epoxy resin sector, injecting new impetus into the high-quality development of China's new material industry.