Shell pulls out of China talks

Royal Dutch Shell has pulled out of talks to join China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., known as Sinopec, and Kuwait Petroleum Corp. in a Chinese refinery project estimated to cost US$9 billion, reports said. The move opens the way for other international oil companies to join the venture. It is also in line with Shell’s broader pullback from the downstream business, as it focuses on oil and natural-gas production. State-run KPC and Sinopec Corp. have a memorandum of understanding to build a 300,000-barrel-a-day refinery and a petrochemical complex that will produce one million metric tons a year of ethylene in Guangdong province in southern China. The companies are waiting for formal Chinese government approval to go ahead. (December 4, 2009)