China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec Corp), the nation's largest oil refiner, has signed an initial accord with South Korea's SK Corp to jointly build an ethylene plant in Wuhan in Central China's Hubei Province.

"The initial agreement was signed," Shu Chaoxia, vice chief engineer of parent China Petrochemical Corp's (Sinopec Group) economic and technical research institute, told reporters at an oil conference in Shanghai recently.

China wants to increase oil-processing capacity 25 percent and more than double ethylene production capacity by 2010 to reduce reliance on imports of the chemical, used to manufacture plastics and synthetic fibers.

"We are doing a feasibility study for the project now and the plant is scheduled to become operational by 2010," Shu said, declining to give the share proportion of the two parties in the project. Hyunjung Cho, a SK spokeswoman said April 12.

The project, worth investment of 14.7 billion ($1.9 billion) received State approval, the National Development and Reform Commission, the nation's top economic planner, said in April 2.

The plant, the first large-scale refining and chemical production base in Central China, will be able to produce 800,000 metric tons of ethylene a year, the commission said in April.