Sinopec's Q3 profits fall by 52.1% due to lower oil prices and refining margins
Sinopec, a Chinese refiner, reported a 52.1% drop in its net profit year-on-year to $8.54 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) during the third quarter due to lower oil prices. Sinopec, the world's biggest refiner based on capacity, reported 790.4 billion Yuan in revenue for its third quarter, a 9.8% drop from the year before, according to a filing made by the company. CNOOC Ltd, a domestic oil and gas company that operates offshore and is a major competitor in China…
China Starts Construction of Southern Part of China-Russia East Gas Pipeline
Construction has started on the southern portion of the China-Russia East natural gas pipeline, which carries supplies from the Power of Siberia system in Russia, China Oil & Gas Piping Network Corp (PipeChina) in a statement on Tuesday.This portion starts at Yongqing in China's northern province of Hebei and ends at Shanghai in eastern China. The full China-Russia East system is a 5,111-km (3,176-mile) pipeline pumping natural gas from the Siberia region in Russia to China.Once launched in 2025…
BP Raises Asian Profile
BP is increasing its Asian presence with an initial agreement, or memorandum of understanding, with China's Zhejiang Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (ZPCC) to build a 1 million tonne a year acetic acid plant, BP said on Friday. The planned production site for acetic acid, which is used in chemical products such as paints and adhesives, would be part of ZPCC's refining and petrochemical plant in Zhoushan in eastern China, BP said in a statement."The potential new plant...would be BP’s largest acetic acid producing site in the world.
ENN Starts First Phase of Zhoushan LNG Import Terminal
Chinese gas distributor ENN Energy Holdings has begun operations at the first phase of its Zhoushan liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal, Vice President Ma Shenyuan said, speaking at a commencement ceremony for the terminal on Friday.As ENN aims to ramp up winter supplies in eastern China, the tanker 'Asia Integrity' docked at the Zhoushan terminal on the same day, bringing 145,000 cubic meters of LNG from Australia supplies to mark the launch of China's…
Largest Oil Shipment Sent from Vancouver to China Since 2015
An Aframax tanker is scheduled to deliver the largest shipment of crude oil from Vancouver to China since January 2015 later this month, Thomson Reuters trade flow data show.For years, Canadian officials have pushed for an escalation in crude exports to rapidly growing Asian markets, but companies in the oil-rich Alberta have limited capacity to move crude to the nation's western coastline.That makes Canadian crude exports from Vancouver to Asia rare, but shipments have picked up in recent months…
LNG Imports Climb at CNOOC's Zhejiang Terminal
CNOOC's Zhejiang terminal will receive 5 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas in 2018 up from 3.58 million tonnes last year, CNOOC Gas and Power Co said on Thursday.The Zhejiang terminal located in Ningbo in Zhejiang province has unloaded 33 LNG tankers as of June, or 2.3 million tonnes, up 94 percent from the same period last year, CNOOC Gas and Power said.Storage tanks linked to the terminal are nearly full, CNOOC said.The terminal is a supply hub of LNG for Zhejiang province in eastern China where gas consumption is surging as households switch to gas for winter heati
China's Coal Import Restrictions may Pressure Pricing
The price of seaborne thermal coal in Asia may come under pressure as China moves to impose some import restrictions on imports of the polluting fuel. Several ports in southern and eastern China have introduced controls on coal imports, ranging from bans on unloadings to tightening customs clearances. Among ports banning imports is the Chuanshon anchorage at Ningbo port, according to a manager at a coal trading house quoted by Reuters on Monday, while Zhoushan near Shanghai is restricting the number of vessels allowed to dock.
LNG Tankers Divert to China as Winter Demand Spikes
China's LNG demand soars as tankers from the Americas divert to China. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is being re-exported to China from Japan and tankers are being diverted from as far away as Brazil, with traders rushing to find cargoes in the face of a supply crunch in the world's No.2 economy as winter bites. Following an unprecedented drive to switch millions of households to natural gas from coal for heating, China's imports of LNG have surged as utilities struggle to meet soaring demand as winter gets off to a colder start than usual.
PetroChina Unloads First US SPR Cargo
PetroChina is this week unloading the first Chinese purchase of crude oil from U.S. strategic petroleum reserves at a port in eastern China, according to shipping data and two industry sources. The move comes as China, the world's No.2 oil consumer, steps up imports from the Americas to diversify supply sources. PetroChina unit, PetroChina International America Inc, bought the 550,000-barrel cargo of Bryan Mound sour crude in a sale from U.S. strategic petroleum reserves in March for $28.8 million.
China Sets Sights on Oil Benchmark
China has opened more than 6,000 trading accounts for its long-awaited crude futures contract - with three-quarters coming from individual traders - as it pushes ahead with plans to compete with global pricing benchmarks. China's oil majors and about 150 brokerages have also registered, but the strong interest by 'mom-and-pop' investors looks set to mark out China's crude futures from western counterparts, which are dominated by institutional investors. Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE), which will run China's contract, says it is finalising technical issues.
China overtakes S. Korea as Asia's biggest Forties Crude Buyer
Shell to send 10 mln bbls Forties to China May-Sept; koch unloads 2 mln bbls in July. China has surpassed South Korea as the top destination in Asia for North Sea Forties crude this year after Royal Dutch Shell sent 10 million barrels of the oil for arrival between May and September. Stuck with excess North Sea crude after a strike in France dampened European demand, Shell is pushing crude to the world's second-largest oil consumer as it struggles to find an outlet for its share of the Forties stream close to home.
China to Cut Petchem Capacity
China will make efforts to cut overcapacity in its petrochemical industry by shutting down outdated plants and consolidating production in the sector, China's cabinet said on Wednesday. The government will build seven mega-petrochemical complexes in coastal areas in eastern China to consolidate the industry, the cabinet said in a document released on its website. The projects include a $15 billion energy installation in the port city Ningbo and a refining hub in Hebei province.
ABB wins World’s First 1,100 kV UHVDC Power-link Order in China
ABB has won orders worth over $300 million to supply breakthrough technologies for the world’s first 1,100 kilovolt (kV) ultra-high-voltage direct current (UHVDC) transmission link. The orders were booked in the second quarter of 2016. The Changji-Guquan UHVDC link will transmit power from the Xinjiang region in the Northwest, to Anhui province in eastern China and will set a new world record in terms of voltage level, transmission capacity and distance. It will be capable of transporting 12…
Quiet Reforms Reshaping China's O&G Sector
Expect no radical "big bang" in China's shake-up of its giant state-run energy firms, but a series of experimental and incremental steps that Beijing has quietly embarked on may still bring meaningful change to an economically crucial sector. Reform of sprawling state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to improve efficiency is a priority for China's leaders as growth slows in the world's second biggest economy, and was a key plank of the country's latest five-year plan agreed in 2015.
China's First Private-led Refinery Planned
$15 bln project would be biggest private-led energy installation. A private-led Chinese group is planning to build a $15 billion mega-petrochemical complex on an island near Shanghai, in what would be the country's first and largest energy installation to be built by a non-state investor, industry sources said. Zhejiang Petrochemical, 51 percent owned by textile giant Rongsheng Holding Group, last month awarded a key design contract for the project, which could compete head-to-head with state-owned firms such as Sinopec that dominate the market.
Far East Gas Delays LPG Terminal in Manzhouli til June 2016
Joint venture Manzhouli Far East Gas has postponed the launch of a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and propylene terminal at the Russian-Chinese border until June 2016, a partner in the venture said. "This timeline is due to the fact that the construction season in Manzhouli ends November 30, 2015 and will not resume until next April. There are also stricter requirements for acceptance, handling and transportation of dangerous chemicals in China, which requires more time to obtain all the necessary licenses and permits…
Tianjin Resumes Commodity Port Ops
Oil, gas and iron ore imports resume after disruptions; Strategic oil reserves in the region not affected. Many operations have resumed at China's Tianjin port, trade sources said, after explosions last week that killed more than 100 people and disrupted business at what is an important oil, gas and bulk import harbour for Asia's biggest economy. The explosions on Aug. 12 led to the disruption of all chemical and oil tanker discharges at the port, and imports of iron ore were also affected.
China to Import 335 MT of Naphtha, Wants More
China is set to import more than 335,000 tonnes of naphtha and diesel, rare moves for the world's no. 2 oil consumer given it has been self-sufficient at meeting domestic oil product demand, industry sources said on Friday. Unipec, the trading arm of top Chinese oil firm Sinopec, has bought more than 300,000 tonnes of naphtha for delivery into China. Traders said the firm rarely buys specifically for China. State-run Sinochem has bought at least 35,000 tonnes of diesel for October-to-November delivery and could import more, industry sources said.
Sinopec Completes $1 bln Refinery Expansion
Sinopec Corp said it has completed expansion works at a refinery in eastern China by adding a 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) crude unit, and plans to raise throughput in the fourth quarter. The Sinopec Jiujiang refinery, located in Jiangxi province, is expected to process 20 percent more crude oil in the fourth quarter, it said in a report posted on the group's website. The report did not say if the 20 percent increase was a comparison with the third quarter or with the same period a year earlier. A company spokesman said he was making checks on the extent of the increase.
Far East Gas Delays LPG Terminal Launch
Joint venture Manzhouli Far East Gas has postponed the launch of a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and propylene terminal at the Russian-Chinese border until June 2016, a partner in the venture said. "This timeline is due to the fact that the construction season in Manzhouli ends November 30, 2015 and will not resume until next April. There are also stricter requirements for acceptance, handling and transportation of dangerous chemicals in China, which requires more time to obtain all the necessary licenses and permits…
