Sinopec International Acquires Addax Petroleum at $7.2 Billion Buy

Calgary, Alberta, October 5th, 2009 – Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration and Production Corporation is pleased to announce that effective October 2, 2009, its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary, Mirror Lake Oil and Gas Company Limited, acquired all of the common shares of Addax Petroleum Corporation not taken up and paid for under the offer for all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Addax Petroleum dated July 9, 2009, as extended, made by Mirror Lake.

At $7.24 billion, Sinopec had just launched China's biggest ever oil acquisition and through its subsidiary, Mirror Lake now owns 100% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Addax Petroleum.

The common shares of Addax Petroleum have been delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange effective October 5, 2009.

China's Sinopec northwest field eyes 5.6% more oil output

China's top refiner Sinopec Corp said that it planned to produce 5.6 per cent more of crude oil in its northwest oil field in 2010.

The northwest field will produce 6.97 million tonnes (139,400 barrels per day) of crude this year, compared with 6.6 million tonnes in 2009, according to a report published on Tuesday by China Petrochemical News, Sinopec's in-house paper.

The field will also aim to produce 1.3 billion cubic metres of natural gas in 2010, unchanged from the amount in 2009, as well as discover 358 million tonnes of oil equivalent in geological reserves, the report said.

Located in Xinjiang, an energy-rich region, the northwest oil field has been providing about one-sixth of Sinopec's national crude output.

Sinopec, also the country's second-largest crude producer after PetroChina, posted 1.47 per cent growth in crude production in 2009 at 301 million barrels from 2008 and a 2 percent rise in natural gas production at 299 billion cubic feet.

China produced 189.67 million tonnes of crude in 2009, a touch below levels in 2008. - Reuters

Sinopec Q2 net beats forecasts

HONG KONG, Aug 23 — Sinopec Corp, the world's second-largest oil refiner after Exxon Mobil, posted record quarterly profits that widely exceeded expectations, buoyed by recent fuel price hikes and falling crude oil prices.

"Since 2009, (the) domestic oil product pricing mechanism reform has turned refining business from loss to profit," the company said in a statement.

"It is anticipated that the result of (the) first three quarters of 2009 will be over 50 per cent higher compared with the same period of last year," it said.

Two fuel price hikes in June, which were part of China's fuel pricing reforms, boosted second-quarter profits.

The results for Sinopec contrast sharply with western oil firms, including Exxon Mobil Corp and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, which have reported weaker second-quarter profits due to depressed refining margins and falling oil prices.

Sinopec's net profit totalled 22.0 billion yuan (RM11.3 billion) for April-June, based on a Reuters' calculation.

Five analysts surveyed by Reuters had expected profit of 16.1 billion yuan. The numbers compare to a net profit of 1.62 billion yuan in April-June last year.

The refiner — which engineered China's largest overseas buyout deal with its US$7.24 billion (RM25.3 billion) bid for Swiss oil explorer Addax Petroleum Corp in June — earned 33.25 billion yuan for the first half compared with 7.68 billion yuan the same period last year.

Sinopec said in a separate statement that it would acquire six research institutes from a subsidiary of China Petrochemical Corporation for 3.95 billion yuan to enhance its technical capabilities.

Sinopec aims to process 97.1 million tonnes of crude in the second half of this year. The company, China's second-largest oil producer after PetroChina, plans to produce 21.4 million tonnes of crude oil and 4.96 billion cubic metres of natural gas in the second half.

CNOOC and PetroChina report earnings on Wednesday and Friday respectively. — Reuters

China closes In On Japan As World's No.2 Biggest Economy

China's expansion has been put at more than 8 per cent in 2009, according to government officials. International Monetary Fund (IMF) projections show the country is poised to overtake Japan next year.

The new figures released yesterday result from an economic census which showed a bigger contribution from services and continue a pattern of China revising up preliminary growth estimates.

China raised its 2008 growth estimate to 9.6 per cent from 9 per cent and said this year's quarterly figures will increase, narrowing the gap with Japan, the world's second-biggest economy.

Underlying factor

Gross domestic product was $4.6 trillion last year, the statistics bureau said at a briefing in Beijing yesterday. That compares with a previous $4.4 trillion and the World Bank's estimate of $4.9 trillion for Japan.

"The big underlying factor propelling China's growth is the continued migration of people from the agricultural sector to the more modern economy — industry and services," said David Cohen, an economist at Action Economic in Singapore. "There's no stopping China."

For 2009, revisions will mainly affect the value of the year's gross domestic product, with a "very small" impact on the growth rate, said Peng Zhilong, the head of the bureau's national economy calculation department.

China's expansion in 2008 compares with US growth of less than 1 per cent. Japan's gross domestic product shrank 1.2 per cent. The Indian economy expanded 6.7 per cent in the fiscal year ended March 2009.

This year, the Chinese economy grew 8.9 per cent in the third quarter from a year earlier, 7.9 per cent in the second and 6.1 per cent in the first. The government has pledged to maintain a "moderately loose" monetary policy in 2010 to sustain a rebound driven by a stimulus package and record lending.

The pace of growth is attracting more investment. Foreign direct investment climbed 32 per cent in November to $7 billion from a year earlier. "Investors are anxious to participate in what remains, with India, the biggest story that's out there," Cohen said.

Yesterday's figures showed a $1.9 trillion contribution from services in 2008, compared with 12 trillion yuan previously.

Gross domestic product figures for 2005, 2006 and 2007 will also be revised as a result of the census, Peng said. China's economy was 4.4 per cent bigger in 2008 than originally estimated, thes figures showed.

TM, KNM, IOICORP, SINOPEC Call Warrants

New Warrants : IOICORP-CM
Expiration : 7/9/2010
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Sinopec claims to be largest SBC producer

Beijing-based China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) has overtaken Houston-based Kraton Polymers LLC as the world's largest producer of styrenic block copolymer (SBC), according to Chinese state media.

Sinopec's SBC annual capacity reached 410,000 metric tons by mid-August, exceeding Kraton's capacity of 405,000 metric tons. The news also said Sinopec's market share in China's SBC market reached 61 percent in the first seven months.

Sinopec's SBC capacity consists of 220,000 metric tons at its Baling branch in Yuyang, Hunan province, 100,000 metric tons at its Beijing Yanshan branch, and 90,000 metric tons at its Maoming branch in Maoming, Guangdong province.

China has about 10 SBC manufacturers with combined annual capacity of 710,000 metric tons, the reports say. - www.plasticnews.com