Beijing (Reuters) -- Sinopec Group, an energy and chemical company, said its planned $9 billion refinery with OPEC member Kuwait has been resited to be built in Zhanjiang city in the southern province of Guangdong.

The announcement comes months after Beijing’s order to resite the plant on environmental concerns.
The project will be completed in 2013, and the partners hoped to win Beijing’s final approval within months, Sinopec said in a statement.
“From this week, the two sides will start feasibility studies for the new site and an evaluation report on environmental impact,” said Sinopec, parent of top Asian refiner Sinopec Corp.
The project, a 300,000 barrels-per-day refinery and one million ton-per-year ethylene complex that produces plastics and chemical fibre, first picked Nansha, in the provincial capital Guangdzhou at the heart of densely populated Pearl River Delta.
But the companies were forced to relocate the plant around May after strong opposition from environmentalists and residents as well as neighboring Hong Kong and Macao over potential damages to the state protected wetland where Nansha is located.
Two industry officials said the final pick of Donghai Island of Zhanjiang city, in the less economically developed western part of Guangdong, China’s export hub, followed a close call with another competing site, Maoming, which was favored by Sinopec.
“Sinopec has long wanted it to happen in Maoming, but I believe the Guangdong government wants it in Zhanjiang,” said one official familiar with the development.
Sinopec Corp already runs a major refinery of 270,000 barrels per day in Maoming city and had hoped to expand it further, utilizing existing terminal facilities and utilities.