A senior official at Kuwait's Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC) said on Saturday that a joint Chinese refinement project would be outlined by the end of 2007, local newspaper Arab Times reported Sunday.

In a press statement, PIC's Chairman and Managing Director Saad al-Shuwaib told the Times that talks with China concerning a co- shared refinement complex and an oil refinery in Guangdong province have been progressing.

If the project is finalized, production would start in 2012 and both sides would benefit from this venture, he added.

It was reported earlier by Kuwait's official KUNA news agency that the Sino-Kuwait refinery is expected to have the capacity to process as much as 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

Meanwhile, the PIC chairman released that his company has realized profits worth over 120 million Kuwaiti dinars (about 408 million U.S. dollars) during 2006.

Source: Xinhua