14 DAY TRIAL // Makers of Oil and Gas have lots of by products to ship out, and that includes plastic. About five percent of the world's oil is used to make plastic.
What better way to turn plastic into precisely what you want it to be, other than 3D printing technology?
As it happens, China Petrochemical Corp. (Sinopec Group, China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation) has decided to get involved in 3D printing.
The largest single refiner of oil and gas in Asia (it is based in Beijing, China), Sinopec is the fifth largest company by revenue and the world’s second largest chemical producer.
At present, the corporation wants to establish some alternative businesses, as its future changes from a classic oil and gas company to one with focus on technology rather than manufacturing.
Sinopec Chairman Fu Chengyu stated that Sinopec could become a science-based petrochemical company in about ten years, with 3D printing technologies being the key to those plans.
They will set up 3D printing businesses and develop printing materials.
All this has a bigger stake than you might think. While it won't affect us laymen directly, having such a huge corporation basically adopt 3D printing as its new business model says a lot about the technology's rapid development and growing importance.