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Eric Ng

Sinopec Engineering (Group), a key implementer of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, is confident it can win a bid to expand an oil refinery in Bangladesh, according to its president.
“In Bangladesh, we have made relatively concrete progress on a refinery expansion project,” president
Xiang Wenwu told reporters on Monday. “It is at the final tender negotiation stage and we have a relatively good chance of winning the bid.”
He would not provide details.
India’s The Financial Express newspaper reported in May that parent China Petrochemical (Sinopec Group) was eyeing to team up with French firm Technip to jointly build 3 million tonnes of annual crude oil processing capacity worth US$1.15 billion at the southeastern port of Chattogram.
It cited an unnamed senior official of state-owned fuel importer and distributor Bangladesh Petroleum.
The expansion would triple the South Asia nation’s annual refining capacity to 4.5 million tonnes from 1.5 million tonnes, and bring US$220 million of annual savings to the nation that imports 7.5 million tonnes of crude and refined petroleum a year, it added.
Are Chinese infrastructure loans putting Africa on the debt-trap express?
The public relations representative for Sinopec Engineering – a construction engineering firm for oil refineries and petrochemicals projects – declined to comment on the report.
Xiang said South Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa are key markets where the company is targeting to expand its overseas revenue.
It has fallen to 10 billion yuan last year from just over 14 billion yuan in both 2016 and 2017, and has declined 4.9 per cent year-on-year to 5.9 billion yuan in this year’s first six half.
Newly signed overseas contracts in the first half also shrank 32.9 per cent year-on-year to 2.2 billion yuan, putting pressure on the company that has won major projects in Malaysia and the Middle East a few years ago, to win more projects.
In Egypt and Algeria of North Africa, the company is also going after some potential projects which are at early stages of development, Xiang said.
In a first, China has more companies on Fortune Global 500 list than the US
The Belt and Road project is the brainchild of President Xi Jinping who initiated it in 2013, with the aim of fostering closer trade and investment ties with 71 nations in Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America, initially through mostly China-funded infrastructure projects.
Chinese banks have provided some US$200 billion of loans to fund more than 2,700 BRI projects, according to its industrial policy setter, the National Development and Reform Commission.
Meanwhile, Sinopec Engineering has won a 826 million yuan contract to provide German chemicals giant’s United States unit prefabricated components for building pipelines in a modular way, for better quality control and higher efficiency.
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Asked if the business may be affected by the US-China trade war, Xiang said any impact would not be substantial given the cooperation with BASF involves multiple markets.
Having done similar projects in Artic Russia and Kuwait, Sinopec Engineering has production capacity and expertise advantages, he added.
The firm on Monday posted an 8.2 per cent net profit rise to 1.2 billion yuan for the year’s first-half.
Xiang said it is confident to reach its annual new contract signing target of 55 billion yuan, after clinching 33 billion yuan in deals in the first half.
It will maintain a high level outlay to develop lower-carbon emitting methods to turn crude oil, natural gas and coal into chemicals, besides hydrogen energy technology. Such spending surged 64.9 per cent to 747 million yuan in the first half.
An interim dividend of 10.8 fen per share was declared, up from 10 fen last year.


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Belt and Road Initiative

Sinopec Engineering, tasked to deliver on Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, thinks it can win Bangladesh project

A map illustrating China's One Belt, One Road megaproject is displayed at the Asian Financial Forum in Hong Kong on January 18, 2016. Photo: Reuters

China’s Belt and Road Initiative needs upgrades to help heavily indebted partners, Standard Chartered says

A passenger looks out from a coach door of a Green Line Express train sitting at Khanewal Junction railway station in Khanewal, Punjab, Pakistan, on February 20, 2018. Beijing is set to upgrade a 1,163-mile track from Karachi to Peshawar near the Afghan border with an $8 billion loan to Pakistan as part of Chinese President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road trade initiative, Photo: Bloomberg

(Left to right): Kelvin Lau, Senior Economist for Greater China; and Carmen Ling, Global Head of RMB internationalisation and Belt & Road, photographed during the Standard Chartered media roundtable on Belt & Road Initiative, in Central. 09NOV18 SCMP / Jonathan Wong

Botched Chinese railway project in Africa is a warning to belt and road investors

The Addis Ababa-Djibouti freight railway has cost China’s state export credit insurer close to US$1 billion in losses. Photo: Handout

Peter Burnett, regional head of corporate finance, Greater China & North Asia, of international bank Standard Chartered. Photo: Handout

Why doubts about China’s Belt and Road Initiative persist among its neighbours

A floral decoration promoting the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing. Photo: AP

Kyauk Pyu port in Myanmar. Photo : HANDOUT

A passenger looks out from a coach door of a Green Line Express train, operated by Pakistan Railways between Islamabad and Karachi, sitting at Khanewal Junction railway station in Khanewal, Punjab, Pakistan, on Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2018. Beijing is set to upgrade a 1,163-miles track from Karachi to Peshawar near the Afghan border with an $8 billion loan to Pakistan. It's part of Chinese President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road trade initiative, which includes $60 billion of badly-needed works financed in Pakistan. Photographer: Asim Hafeez/Bloomberg

(190421) -- PUTRAJAYA, April 21, 2019 (Xinhua) -- Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad speaks during an interview with Chinese media at the Prime Minister's Office in Putrajaya, Malaysia, April 8, 2019. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) will increase trade between Southeast Asia and China, and Malaysia is looking forward to serving as a hub for the greater exchange in the region, Mahathir has said. Mahathir is set to visit China to attend the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation later this month. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)

George Yeo, chairman of the Kerry Logistic Network attends China Conference at the JW Marriott Hotel in Admiralty. 21FEB19 SCMP / Nora Tam

In this Sept. 8, 2017, photo, Malaysia former Prime Minster Najib Razak, third from left, looks at modals of ECRL (East Coast Rail Link) during the project launching in Kuantan, east cost of peninsula Malaysia. Malaysia's government said Tuesday, July 3, 2018, a major China-backed rail link project can only be viable with a "drastic" price reduction by the Chinese contractor as the actual cost of the venture is 81 billion ringgit ($20 billion). (AP Photo)

A man takes photo of a sign promoting the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing on April 22, 2019. (Photo by WANG ZHAO / AFP)

This Budhi Gandaki river bend in Nepal is the proposed site for the Chinese-built dam under the Belt and Road initiative, but has been stalled for months. 15APR19 SCMP / Sarah Zheng

(170825) -- WESTERN INDIAN OCEAN, Aug. 25, 2017 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese naval formation conducts transverse replenishment of fuel and drinking water in western Indian Ocean waters on Aug. 25, 2017. A Chinese naval formation consisting of the destroyer Changchun, guided-missile frigate Jingzhou and supply vessel Chaohu conducted a live-fire drill in the waters of the western Indian Ocean, military sources said Friday. (Xinhua/Xu Shouming)(whw)

Illustration: Dennis Yip

Business


Expansion would triple South Asia nation’s annual refining capacity
South Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa are key markets where Sinopec Engineering wants to expand



The expansion would triple the South Asia nation’s annual refining capacity to 4.5 million tonnes from 1.5 million tonnes.


Belt and Road: The projects

Energy

Sinopec

Bangladesh

Sinopec Engineering, tasked to deliver on Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, thinks it can win Bangladesh project

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Expansion would triple South Asia nation’s annual refining capacity South Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa are key markets where Sinopec Engineering wants to expand

Expansion would triple South Asia nation’s annual refining capacity

South Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa are key markets where Sinopec Engineering wants to expand