CHINA'S top economic planner has approved South Korea's SK Group taking a 35 percent stake in a US$2.7 billion petrochemical complex that refiner Sinopec built in central China, a government statement said yesterday.

China's National Development and Reform Commission has approved SK's acquisition of a stake in the complex in Hubei Province that has a capacity of 800,000 tons per year of ethylene.

The plant is now a joint venture between Sinopec and SK, with a 65-35 split, the NDRC said. The two companies signed a preliminary deal in December 2011 to explore joint investment in the project. SK's investment cost for the stake was not given.

Sinopec completed building the complex around the end of 2012 in Wuhan.

China imports about half its ethylene needs and is keen to reduce that amount.