Construction of the main complex of a joint-investment ethylene project, which involves petrochemicals giant Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), began on Monday in east China's Fujian Province.

The project, with a total investment of 44.8 billion yuan (about 6.3 billion U.S. dollars) from SABIC and Fujian Energy Petrochemical Group Co., Ltd., is being built in the Gulei petrochemicals base in the city of Zhangzhou.

As the largest single Sino-foreign joint venture in Fujian Province, the project is expected to be completed in 2026 and possess a maximum annual production capacity of 1.8 million tonnes of ethylene.

The project has triggered investment totaling more than 200 billion yuan for upstream and downstream industries in the Gulei petrochemicals base, according to preliminary estimates.

The base is one of China's seven largest petrochemicals bases. It has 15 operational projects and a further 12 are under construction.