China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec) plans to spend 120 billion yuan (HK$136.15 billion) annually between this year and 2011 to bolster output capacity and is mulling buying its parent's overseas oil and gas assets to expand beyond the mainland for the first time.
The country's second-largest oil and gas producer and the world's largest oil refiner by capacity aims to raise oil and gas output by a compound annual average 5.4 per cent from last year to 405 million barrels of oil equivalent in 2011.
Of the target, oil output is aimed to grow an average 1.24 per cent annually to 308 million barrels, and natural gas 13.1 per cent per year to 12 billion cubic metres (bcm).
However, a severe earthquake last year delayed the production plans of the major Puguang gas field in Sichuan province and construction of a pipeline to Shanghai. This caused Sinopec to revise down this year's gas output target, unveiled in March this year, to 9 bcm from 10 bcm.
In oil refining, Sinopec plans to raise throughput an average 6.2 per cent annually from last year to 202 million tonnes in 2011, while key chemical ethylene's annual capacity is projected to jump 14.7 per cent yearly to 9.3 million tonnes, and fuel sales 3.2 per cent annually to 135 million tonnes.
Boosted by Beijing's economic stimulus polices, Sinopec's fuel sales jumped to 359,000 tonnes in June from a low of 267,000 tonnes in January, chairman Su Shulin said, while refining throughput soared to a new high of 517,000 tonnes in June.
July sales slipped to 334,000 tonnes but rebounded this month, vice-chairman Wang Tianpu said without giving a figure.
