The refinery, located in eastern Chinese city Lianyungang in Jiangsu province, started trial operations of its refining units in May and were waiting for government approval to formally commence production.

"The first batch of qualified oil products was loaded and left Shenghong on Nov. 12, marking that the refinery has successfully run through the production process from crude to oil products and aromatics, and from production to sales," it said.

A company executive told Reuters that the refinery is expected to start the remaining olefin production facilities, including a 1.1 million tonnes per annum ethylene unit, in late November or early December.

The refinery has also completed a new tanker terminal and unloaded crude from a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) in early October.

(Reporting by Muyu Xu)