Sinopec mulls China oil refinery JV with Aramco, ExxonMobil

China’s largest oil refiner Sinopec is considering teaming up with Saudi Aramco and U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil to build an oil refinery able to process 12 million tons of crude per year (240,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the southeast China’s Fujian province, the state-run China Daily reported. project. “The petrochemical complex can produce 1 million tons of ethylene per year (tpy), and the project is part of Sinopec’s plan to expand its existing joint-venture project in Quanzhou City, Fujian province,” the daily quoted former vice-governor of Fujian Jia Xitai, a deputy to the National People’s Congress (NPC), as saying. State-run Sinopec, together with ExxonMobil and Aramco, started commercial operations at their 40 billion yuan (US$ 5.86 billion) oil refining and petrochemical complex last November 2009. (March 9, 2010)