China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec Corp.) said on
Saturday that it would acquire equity interests of three oil
refineries and 63 gas stations from its parent company, Sinopec
Group Company.
Sinopec Yangzi Petrochemical, a subsidiary wholly owned by
Sinopec Corp., will also acquire equity interests of two oil
refineries from Sinopec Group.
Under an agreement signed between Sinopec Corp. and Sinopec
Group on Friday, Sinopec Corp. will acquire from Sinopec Group the
100 percent state-owned equity interest in Sinopec Hangzhou Oil
Refinery Plant, as well as the 59.47 percent state-owned equity in
Yangzhou Petrochemical Plant and a 75 percent interest under the
joint venture contract of Zhanjiang Dongxing Petrochemical Company
Limited.
Sinopec Corp. will also acquire the operating rights of 63 gas
stations from Sinopec Sales and Industrial Company, a wholly owned
subsidiary of Sinopec Group.
Sinopec Yangzi Petrochemical entered into two equity transfer
agreements with Sinopec Group on Friday to acquire Sinopec Group's
100 percent state-owned equity interest in Taizhou Petrochemical
and 100 percent state-owned shareholding in Qingjiang
Petrochemical.
The acquisitions are valued at 3.66 billion yuan (501 million
U.S. dollars), to be paid for by the internal resources of Sinopec
Corp. and Sinopec Yangzi Petrochemical.
The acquisition of the gas station operating rights was expected
to rationalize Sinopec Corp.'s marketing of its petroleum products,
facilitate the expansion of its refined oil retail network and
enhance its refined oil sales capability, said Sinopec Corp.
The five refineries have a total annual capacity of 8 million
tonnes.
The proposed transactions require approval of the State-owned
Assets Supervision and Administration Commission and other relevant
authorities.
Listed in Hong Kong, Shanghai, New York and London, Sinopec
Corp. is an integrated energy and chemical company. Sinopec Group
Company, China's largest refiner, holds 75.84 percent of Sinopec
Corp.
(Xinhua News Agency December 30, 2007)
