China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., Asia's biggest refiner, plans to start operating its 21 billion yuan (US$2.7 billion) ethylene plant in northern China by the end of September 2009 to meet rising domestic demand.

The ethylene cracker will use technology jointly developed by Sinopec, as China Petroleum is known, and ABB Lummus Global, a unit of the world's largest builder of electricity networks, parent company China Petrochemical Corp. said in its newsletter today. Saudi Basic Industries Corp. said in March it has taken a stake in the Tianjin plant, without giving the size.