Sinopec unveils chemical plant acquisition and plan to list marketing business overseas
Sinopec unveils confident plans as profits from fuel marketing and chemicals more than double
Oil and gas major China Petroleum & Chemical (Sinopec) has unveiled a US$1.68 billion chemical plant acquisition and approved a plan to separately list its fuel marketing business on an overseas stock exchange.
The moves underline the firm’s confident outlook for the downstream fuel and chemicals sector amid a prolonged period of low crude oil prices.
The nation’s third largest oil producer and the world’s second largest refiner by capacity, through its wholly-owned Shanghai-based subsidiary Gaoqiao Petrochemical, has struck a deal to pay US$1.68 billion to international oil giant BP for the latter’s 50 per cent stake in petrochemical joint venture Shanghai Secco Petrochemical.
“This decision aligns our petrochemicals business in China with our global focus on areas where BP has leading proprietary technologies and competitive advantage,” BP Global Petrochemicals chief operating officer Rita Griffin said in a statement.
Caojing, Shanghai-based Secco, a base chemicals maker whose US$2.7 billion plant started commercial operation in 2005, booked a net profit of 3.8 billion yuan last year, up from 2.2 billion yuan in 2015, Sinopec said in a stock exchange filing late on Thursday.
Secco and Gaoqiao have a mutual feedstocks supply relationship, and the acquisition will enhance their “synergy” through business integration, the filing added.