A controversial oil refinery project in southern China will be relocated after it was criticised by environmental groups, a senior Chinese official said Thursday.

Wang Yang, Communist Party secretary of Guangdong province, said the joint venture between China's Sinopec and Kuwait Petroleum Corporation will be moved from its original location in Nansha.

"The Nansha refinery project had been criticised strongly by the community and by (officials) and by scholars," Wang told reporters.

"And we have also taken into account the fragile nature of the Nansha ecology and the interest of the neighbouring provinces.

"After numerous studies and a lot of efforts, we have decided that we will relocate the project.

"I think this reflects how Guangdong values ecology and it is open to criticism."

Wang would not say where the refinery would be relocated to, but reports have said it would be moved to more remote locations in Guangdong such as Zhanjiang or Maoming.

The plant is expected to be able to process up to 15 million tonnes of oil a year and produce 800,000 tonnes of ethylene, a chemical used in making plastic.

The original plan faced strong opposition from campaigners in Hong Kong over worries about its environmental impact.

The plant would have been only 37 kilometres (23 miles) from Hong Kong, which neighbours Guangdong and has suffered from poor air quality as the result of southern China's rapid economic expansion over the last 30 years.

Wang's comment was the first time a senior official has confirmed the refinery would be moved.

Guangdong has boomed in the last three decades as a manufacturing hub but the success has created huge pollution problem both in the air and in the water.