Seven Departments: By 2029, the renovation and upgrade tasks for outdated petrochemical and chemical installations confirmed by 2025 in various regions will be fully completed.

A reporter from | Zhang Rui Editor from | Xu Shaohang

On April 3, seven departments, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, jointly issued the “Action Plan to Accelerate the Upgrade and Renovation of Obsolete Facilities in the Petrochemical and Chemical Industry (2026—2029)” (hereinafter referred to as the “Plan”).

The “Plan” proposes that by 2029, all upgrade and renovation tasks for obsolete petrochemical and chemical facilities that were already determined in 2025 in each locality will be fully completed. After 2026, newly determined upgrade and renovation tasks will be advanced as planned. A long-term work system of annual rolling inventory checks and assessments, as well as continuous improvement through ongoing renovations, will be further improved, and the combined effects of standards-led guidance and policy coordination will be further brought into play.

(Image: Zhang Rui, a reporter from , at the press conference)

On the same day, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology held a press conference titled “Accelerating the Upgrade and Renovation of Obsolete Facilities in the Petrochemical and Chemical Industry to Promote High-Quality Development and Industry Upgrading.”

More than 1,000 Enterprises Have Completed Upgrades and Renovations of Obsolete Facilities or Exited

At the press conference, Chang Guowu, Director of the Department of Raw Materials Industry of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that the petrochemical and chemical industry has a large overall economic scale and a high degree of industrial interlinkage. It plays an important role in stabilizing economic growth, safeguarding energy security, and ensuring the security of the industrial chain and supply chain.

He noted that in China, the petrochemical and chemical industry has more than 27k above-scale production enterprises. Some facilities built in the early years had relatively low design and construction standards, lagging processes, and not-so-high levels of automation control. As a result, they face problems such as high safety and environmental risks, irrational layout, and low operating efficiency.

“Accelerating the upgrade and renovation of obsolete facilities in the petrochemical and chemical industry is an important measure to eliminate safety and environmental risks at their root. It is also an effective path to improve the industry’s technical equipment level and cultivate and develop new quality productive forces,” he said.

Chang Guowu said that since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, together with relevant departments, has actively promoted the relocation and renovation of hazardous chemical production enterprises in densely populated urban areas and the “relocate, transform, and shut down” (搬改关) of chemical enterprises along rivers. More than 1,000 enterprises have completed upgrades and renovations of obsolete facilities or exited. However, obsolete facilities are a continuing process, and the upgrade and renovation work still faces many difficulties and problems that require greater efforts and sustained advancement.

Against this backdrop, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and seven other departments jointly issued the “Plan.” Focusing on the goals, the “Plan” sets out six tasks: carrying out rolling investigations and assessments, developing upgrade and renovation plans, promoting quality improvement and upgrades, optimizing project management, handling acceptance management, and strengthening standard-setting guidance and support.

Will Work with Relevant Departments to Guide Localities to Establish and Improve a Green Channel for Approval of Upgrade and Renovation Projects

What are the difficulties in advancing the upgrade and renovation of obsolete facilities? How will the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology promote solutions?

In response, Chang Guowu said that based on preliminary research, the difficulties mainly fall into three areas:

Specifically, first, the upgrade and renovation of obsolete facilities requires large capital investment. In recent years, market competition in the petrochemical and chemical industry has intensified, enterprises’ profitability levels have not been high, and they face considerable funding pressure.

Second, generally, newly built projects often involve large construction volumes, complex processes, and long approval timelines. In general, the construction period needs more than three years; some upgrade-and-improvement projects require extended periods of shutdown, which may cause certain impacts on enterprises’ normal production and business operations.

Third, some standard indicators are not high. The development of standards to lead high-quality development—such as green and digital transformation—is lagging overall, and their guiding role for enterprises’ upgrade and renovation is not strong.

“Regarding the above problems, the ‘Plan’ proposes targeted policy measures,” Chang Guowu said. In terms of increasing funding support, it will use existing policy funding channels, such as large-scale equipment renewal, science and technology innovation, and relending for technological renovation, to support the upgrade and renovation of obsolete facilities that meet the relevant conditions.

He added that currently, the country has increased the scale of relending for technological renovation and science and technology innovation from 500 billion yuan to 1.2 trillion yuan, and lowered the interest rate from 1.75% to 1.25%. As of the end of November 2025, banks have signed equipment renewal loan contracts with 700 petrochemical and chemical enterprises totaling more than 8B yuan, with a loan balance of more than 27k yuan. In addition, efforts will be made to promote bank-enterprise matching through platforms such as the credit market service platform and the national industry-finance cooperation platform, improving the quality and effectiveness of financial services.

Chang Guowu said that in terms of optimizing project management, when the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology study the layout of major petrochemical projects, they will prioritize support for projects to upgrade and renovate obsolete facilities. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will work with relevant departments to guide localities to establish and improve a green channel for the approval of upgrade-and-renovation projects, strengthen the provision of key factors, optimize handling procedures for project record-filing (approval), environmental impact assessment, and safety licensing, improve review and approval efficiency, and accelerate project implementation.

“Regarding strengthening standards-led guidance, a special action plan has already been formulated, focusing on filling the shortfalls in standards for the upgrade and renovation of obsolete facilities,” he said.

Cover image source: media database