Sino Biopharmaceutical, China's pharmaceutical giant listed in Hong Kong, announced in Hongkong Sunday that it had signed an agreement with northwest China's Shaanxi provincial government to build the country's first project to converse coal into low-carbon olefin, People’s Daily reported. "The technology boasts low cost compared with the conventional method of extracting similar products from petroleum," said te paper, quoted Xie Bing, the company’s chairman, as saying. "It will be a new source of olefin and carries special economic value in light of the rising oil prices," he said. With a total investment of 5 billion yuan (628 million US dollars), the joint venture will be built in Shaanxi's Yulin city and is expected to commence operation in the first quarter of 2007.