Sinopec
China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (SSE: 600028, NYSE: SNP, HKEX: 0386), or Sinopec Corp. (simplified Chinese: 中国石化, traditional Chinese: 中國石化), is one of the major petroleum companies in China. Sinopec's business includes oil and gas exploration, refining, and marketing; production and sales of petrochemicals, chemical fibers, chemical fertilizers, and other chemical products; storage and pipeline transportation of crude oil and natural gas; import, export and import/export agency business of crude oil, natural gas, refined oil products, petrochemicals, and other chemicals. In 2009, it was ranked 9th by Fortune Global 500 becoming the first Chinese corporation to make the top ten.[3] In 2007, it ranked first in the Top 500 Enterprises of China ranking.[4]
Recent History Outside China
In 2002, Gabon designated a quarter of its territory as nature reserve a move designed to protect 67 000 km² of rainforest. Sinopec prospected for oil in the Loango National Park in southern Gabon and employed methods that critics said respected neither the law nor the environment.[5] Sinopec was accused of dynamiting and polluting the park by investigating teams from a US environmental organisation, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). Professor Christophe Boesch, a primatologist performing field work in the park, said: "They're using dynamite, which is killing and scaring the wildlife, sending the gorillas deeper into the forest and outside the protection of the park where they risk becoming bushmeat. They're bulldozing roads through the park, polluting the waters with chemicals and slurry and hunting the wildlife to eat."[6] Gabonese law states that "if oil or mineral riches are discovered in the protected areas they can be exploited for the economic and social benefit of the country...nevertheless the operator concerned is obliged to rehabilitate the site," and Sinopec, despite being opposed by the Ministry of Forestry and the National parks administration, is backed by the Ministry of Mines.[7] International donors to the nation, including the European Union, complained. Gabon foreign minister Emile Doumba responded: "What Sinopec is doing is unacceptable. If we find a huge reserve under a park we're not going to ignore it, that's for sure. But I think it is better to favour the long term and the development of ecotourism, which has considerable potential in Gabon."[8] Sinopec's activities in Gabon's national parks were suspended in September, 2006, by the Gabonese national parks council.[7]
Sinopec signed an evaluation deal with Gabon in 2004. During his African visit that year Chinese President Hu Jintao signed a series of bilateral trade accords with his Gabonese counterpart Omar Bongo, including a "memorandum of agreement aimed at showing the parties' desire to develop exploration, exploitation, refining and export activities of oil products". Three onshore fields were to be explored. One of the three blocks, LT2000, is some 200 kilometers (120 miles) southeast of Gabon's economic hub, Port Gentil, which lies south of the capital, Libreville, on the Atlantic coast. The other two - DR200 and GT2000 - are around 100 kilometres (60 miles) northeast of Port Gentil, according to the Gabonese oil ministry.[9]
Sinopec Corporation is a partner in Petrodar Operating Company Ltd., a consortium whose partners also include China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC, the 90 per cent owner of PetroChina) and Sudapet (the Sudanese state-owned oil company), among others. In August, 2005, Petrodar commenced production of oil in blocks 3 and 7 in South-east Sudan. In December, 2005, Petrodar announced that its first shipment of crude oil would be shipped from Sudan in January, 2006. Petrodar's operations represent a major increase in overall Sudanese oil production. In West Africa, Sinopec is also looking at acquiring other petroleum companies. Sinopec completed a takeover of Swiss-based Addax Petroleum for $7.5 billion marking China's biggest foreign takeover.[10]. Sinopec is also looking into other companies such as ERHC Energy which has multiple oil block assets in the Joint Development Zone[11].
In November 2005, Sinopec Group announced plans to partner with CNPC to purchase an oil field in Sudan, and has reportedly indicated an interest in expanding its business in Sudan.[12]
In 2007, in eastern Ethiopia’s Ogaden Desert, a raid by an ethnic Somali rebel group on a Sinopec drilling site left 74 dead including 9 Chinese oil workers, and 7 kidnapped on 24 April 2007. The rebels, the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), later released the seven abductees and warned foreign companies against working in the area. Sinopec said it had no plans to pull out of the resource-rich region despite the attack. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Liu Jianchao says that China strongly condemns the violent attack carried out by Somalian insurgents on the premises of the oil company Sinopec in Ethiopia.[13]
In February 2007, Saudi Aramco and Exxon signed a deal with Sinopec to revamp the Fujian oil refinery and triple its capacity to 240,000 barrels per day (38,000 m3/d) by 2009. Aramco, Exxon and Sinopec also signed contracts for a fuel marketing venture that will manage 750 service stations and a network of terminals in Fujian province.[14] Unipec, a subsidiary of Sinopec, signed a contract with French oil company Total Gabon in February 2002. Under the contract China, for the first time, bought Gabonese crude oil.[15] In the African nation of Gabon, Sinopec's joint ventures in oil exploration have been accused of violating environmental conventions by the government of Gabon. Its activities in Gabon's national parks were suspended in September, 2006, by the Gabonese national parks council.[7]
On 13, April, 2010 Company announced acquisition of Conoco Phillips's 9% stake in the Canadian oil sand firms, Syncrude, for £3bn. The deal requires regulatory approval from the Chinese and Canadian governments.[16]
Environmental record
China's top environmental watchdog warned Sinopec in 2007 to stop operations at one of its oil fields due to chronic river pollution. Zhongyuan Oilfields Petrochemical Company, a unit of Sinopec, had failed to meet waste water treatment requirements and had been ordered to pay a pollution fine and operations had to be halted, according to the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA).[17]
Guangdong Provincial Environment Bureau (GPEB had also issued a red sign warning to 19 companies, including Sinopec Guangzhou, in February 2008. By GPEB’s standard, the companies that have involved in excessive emissions or caused serious environmental pollution accidents will be given the red sign warning and will be placed under strict supervision.[18]
References
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RMB 1,209.7 billion (2007)[1]