Petrochemical industry plays an important role in national economy. In different fields such as material industry, its roles are different. But the importance of these various roles is equal.

First, petrochemical industry is the main supplier of energy. As petrochemical industry is to produce gasoline, kerosene, diesel oil, heavy oil and natural gas through chemical processing of petroleum, its position as a main energy supplier cannot be denied. In 1995, the amount of fuel oil in our country reached 80 megatons. At present, the consumption amount of petroleum and natural gas takes up 60 percent of the whole all over the world. Petrochemical industry can provide energy for automobiles, tractors, airplanes, steamships and boilers. In addition, petrochemical industry can also provide some fuel for people’s daily life. But it cannot be ignored that energy is an important factor to affect national economy. The development of petrochemical industry must consume about 8.5 percent of the world’s total energy. So how to reduce consumption amount is a serious question.

Second, petrochemical industry is one of pillars of material industry. The three main materials include metal, non-metallic inorganic material and high molecular synthetic material. The output of high molecular synthetic material produced by petrochemical industry has reached about 145 million tons all over the world. The output in China exceeded 8 million tons in 1996. Except high molecular synthetic material, most of organic chemicals are produced by petrochemical industry. In all the fields of chemical industry, petrochemical industry can do quite well.