Sinopec Corp of China announced on Wednesday that it has begun construction on a 10.8 billion yuan ($1.56 billion) project in a northern subsidiary refinery aimed at producing more high-end chemicals.

The project, which is being built alongside Sinopec's Shijiangzhuang refinery in Hebei province, will include 12 facilities, including a 3 million tonne-per-year (tpy) catalytic cracker, a 700,000-tpy gasoline hydrotreating unit, and a 100,000-tpy epichlorohydrin unit, according to Sinopec.

One of the key chemical products of this upgrade will be used in the production of cosmetics and higher-performance plastics.

National energy companies such as Sinopec have pledged multibillion-dollar investments in green sectors such as renewable energy, carbon capture, and cleaner refining as part of a national goal to reach peak carbon emissions by 2030 and carbon-neutrality by 2060.

Sinopec also stated that the existing kerosene hydrogenation facility and olefin recovery capacity at the Shijiazhuang refinery will be upgraded.

The refiner has already made investments in other low-carbon and carbon-capture projects, including the establishment of China's largest carbon-capture facility in eastern Shandong province last August.