During the Spring Festival, a stay in Tianjin’s Dagang area offered a close-up view of the city’s petrochemical development path. Walking among towering refining columns and pipeline networks, it was clear that the sector has undergone not only a leap in production capacity but also a fundamental reshaping of the industrial chain—shifting from traditional refining toward a modern materials base, guided by the principles of modernization, intelligence, and high-end upgrading.

I. Energy Awakening: Tianjin Leads in Domestic Oil Production Dagang Oilfield’s resource endowment provided the initial foundation for Tianjin’s petrochemical industry. In 1964, the central government approved the Ministry of Petroleum’s campaign for hydrocarbon exploration in North China. With the successful drilling of Gang-5 Well, which yielded high oil and gas flows, Dagang Oilfield was established, marking the beginning of petroleum exploration and development in the Bohai Bay region. Petrochemicals gradually became a key component of Tianjin’s chemical industry. As oilfield development advanced, stable supply of petroleum resources enabled robust growth in Tianjin’s petrochemical sector.

Bohai Oilfield has further strengthened the foundation of Tianjin’s petrochemical industry. First, Tianjin ranks first in China in crude oil output: in 2025, the city produced 40.92 million tons of crude oil, accounting for 19% of the national total. In terms of natural crude oil, Tianjin produced 39.99 million tons in 2024, representing 23% of China’s output. Second, Bohai Oilfield produced over 40 million tons of oil and gas equivalent in 2025, remaining the country’s largest offshore crude production base and contributing more than 60% of the national increase in offshore crude output.

II. Leapfrog Development: Petrochemicals Become Top Industrial Sector in Tianjin After half a century of progress, Tianjin’s petrochemical industry has transformed from an oil and gas source into a major petrochemical base. The initial phase began in 1970, when Tianjin Petrochemical Plant started producing qualified gasoline and diesel, marking the birth of the city’s refining industry. In 1981, Tianjin Petrochemical Fiber Plant was completed and put into operation, becoming one of the country’s four major synthetic fiber bases at the time. During the growth phase, after the turn of the millennium, the industry gradually formed an integrated development pattern combining marine chemicals, coal chemicals, and petrochemicals. In 2003, Tianjin launched the Lingang Economic Zone; in 2006, Sinopec began constructing a 1-million-ton-per-year ethylene project along with supporting 10-million-ton refining facilities. In 2009, the Nangang Industrial Zone was established, promoting the agglomeration of Tianjin’s petrochemical industry and forming a spatial layout centered on Nangang. By the maturity phase, in January 2010, the million-ton ethylene and ten-million-ton refining project commenced operation, making Tianjin Petrochemical the largest refining base in North China and one of the country’s top ethylene producers. In 2024, Sinopec’s Tianjin Nangang 1.2-million-ton-per-year ethylene project started operation. As of the end of 2024, Tianjin’s refining capacity reached 21 million tons per year, ethylene output stood at 3 million tons per year, and synthetic resin capacity exceeded 3.2 million tons per year, with output of major petrochemical products ranking among the nation’s highest.

The petrochemical industry has become the largest of Tianjin’s top ten industrial sectors. In 2024, the sector’s output value approached 450 billion yuan, accounting for over 20% of the city’s total industrial output above designated size and ranking first among Tianjin’s industrial sectors. A coordinated development pattern has taken shape, with Nangang as the core, supported by Lingang and Dagang chemical parks, leading to increasingly prominent agglomeration effects. By 2024, Tianjin’s petrochemical cluster had attracted China National Petroleum Corporation, Sinopec, and CNOOC—the “three barrels of oil”—as well as homegrown Tianjin Bohua Chemical Group, a century-old enterprise. It has also drawn more than ten global chemical giants including BASF and LG Chem to establish operations in the city, while nurturing local high-quality firms such as Li’anlong and Luling Gas.

III. New Era: Critical Period for High-Quality Transformation in Petrochemicals The 15th Five-Year Plan period marks a critical phase for China’s petrochemical industry, transitioning from scale expansion to structural optimization. With national refining capacity approaching the ceiling of 1 billion tons, the industry is shifting from fuel-driven to materials-driven growth, making strengthening and extending the industrial chain an inevitable trend.

Tianjin has demonstrated its own approach to high-quality petrochemical development. Leveraging Tianjin Petrochemical’s 2.5-million-ton annual ethylene capacity, the sector supplies 4 million tons of high-end chemical products and fine chemical raw materials each year to downstream industries. In the Nangang Industrial Zone, two flagship projects—Sinopec’s high-end new materials industrial cluster and Bohai Chemical’s new materials industrial base—anchor development in four major areas: specialty olefin derivatives, advanced chemical materials, high-end fine and specialty chemicals, and high-end producer services. These efforts focus on ten sub-chains including C2–C5 derivatives, high-performance engineering resins and composites, electronic information materials, and electronic chemicals. In the Dagang Petrochemical Park, the emphasis is on high-end manufacturing, with targeted introduction of projects in high-performance resins, synthetic rubber, fibers, functional membrane materials, and high-end specialty chemicals. On January 12, 2026, Xingfu Electronics and Huanbo New Materials signed a strategic cooperation agreement to jointly build a wet electronic chemicals base in Tianjin, serving northern China.

Walking the streets of Dagang, the industrial积淀 of over half a century is clearly visible. From the resource awakening initiated by Gang-5 Well in 1964 to the launch of the 2.5-million-ton ethylene “aircraft carrier” at Tianjin’s Nangang base today, every pulse of Tianjin’s petrochemical industry has beat in sync with the rhythm of Chinese manufacturing. At the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan period in 2026, the former “heavy industrial jungle” is rapidly transforming into a high-value-added materials base.

Standing at this critical historical juncture, one can feel the determination behind Tianjin’s—and by extension, China’s—petrochemical transformation toward high-quality development. It reflects a genuine ambition to move beyond mediocrity and ascend to the top of the industrial chain. As an industry observer, it is clear that the industrial arteries powered by oil and steam will form the most solid foundation of new materials for high-end manufacturing sectors such as semiconductors, aerospace, and new energy. This, perhaps, is the sturdiest underpinning of China’s manufacturing prowess.

Since 2018, Shenwan Hongyuan Research has been conducting grassroots observations during the Spring Festival to gain deeper insight into China’s national conditions. In 2026, the research team continued this tradition, using the holiday period to visit hometowns, conduct field research, and travel, documenting their observations in accessible language and on-the-ground visits to reveal the multi-layered dynamics of China’s economy beyond the ivory tower.