Dragon Aromatics
Dragon Aromatics Plant is a petrochemical facility in Gulei port, Zhangpu County, on the Fujian coast in Southeast China. Construction began around 2009, and by 2013 the plant was producing paraxylene (PX) and orthoxylene for polyester fiber and other applications. It was owned by Taiwan’s Xianglu Group until 2018.
The project moved to Gulei after protests in Xiamen against an earlier PX project, and it was built with the ParamaX process licensed from the French company Axens. The technology processes natural-gas condensate into light and heavy naphtha, which are then refined into PX and other aromatics.
As of 2015, the facility had two PX production lines and a benzene unit, with a total PX capacity of about 1.6 million tonnes per year. It also produced orthoxylene (about 160,000 tpy) and benzene (about 240,000 tpy). The plant planned upgrades to its condensate splitter to raise overall capacity.
The site experienced a minor blast on July 30, 2013, during start-up testing of a hydrocracker, but there were no casualties. In April 2015, a large fire at a condensate storage area caused an explosion, injuring several people and triggering the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents. The fire burned for days before it was controlled, and it raised safety and environmental concerns about chemical plants in China.
After the 2015 disaster, the plant was shut for about three years for repairs and reorganization. In 2018 it was renamed Fuhaichuang and reorganized so that the Chinese government owned 90% through Fuhua Gulei Petrochemical Co Ltd, with Dragon Aromatics holding the remaining 10%. The restarted facility aimed to operate with an enlarged condensate splitter at about 110,000 barrels per day.
Dragon Aromatics is part of the Xianglu Dragon Group, led by Chen Yu-hao. The plant’s main role is to supply PX for polyester production and to produce other aromatics essential to downstream plastics, coatings, and resins.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 19:31 (CET).