Money-losing Jilin Chemical Industrial plans to buy gas and crude oil from neighbouring Russia to reduce costs and boost production.
The company, a major state-owned basic chemicals maker, is in talks with Russia to buy 20 billion cubic metres of natural gas and 20 million tonnes of crude oil a year, Jilin Governor Hong Hu said.
'This can help [the company] save on raw materials costs,' Mr Hong said at a trade fair for Jilin province in Hong Kong.
Jilin Chemical, a subsidiary of oil giant PetroChina, is likely to post its third annual consecutive loss which - under mainland listing rules - would result in its Shenzhen-listed A shares being delisted.
The company posted an unaudited net loss of 659.01 million yuan (about HK$617.55 million) for the first nine months of this year, under mainland accounting standards. That followed a net loss of 1.81 billion yuan last year under international accounting standards - a record for an H-share company at the time.
The loss was due mainly to huge provisions against obsolete inventory and outstanding receivables.