The latest round in trade talks saw the world’s two largest economies temporarily halting-off a “trade war”, as China pledged to buy more from the United States to help bring down the latter’s 375-billion-dollar trade deficit. 

Within the key energy sector, the spotlight is on China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) – if it will ramp-up imports of crude oil from the US.

Sinopec’s spokesman Lyu Dapeng did not confirm whether the group would boost its imports from the US, but instead said it expects to increase cooperation with the US.

“Our trading unit imported 5.57 million barrels of crude oil from the US in 2017, which accounted for 10 percent of the US’s crude oil exports. It’s clear that globalization is the way forward and we are willing to strengthen cooperation with the US in this area,” Lyu said.  

Lyu added: “We are a business entity, so any decision of whom and where we buy from will be pricing and quality driven.”

According to Lyu, Sinopec imports over 60 percent of its crude oil for processing purposes. “And because China does not produce enough, we will have to increase our imports.”

“But so far, there has not been much impact to our business from trade frictions between China and the US,” Lyu said. 

When asked on Sinopec’s forecast on oil prices, Lyu said the current state is conducive, and hopes for prices to remain between 60-80 US dollars a barrel. (Brent crude settled at 76 US dollars a barrel on Friday, while US WTI at 68 dollars a barrel.)

Sinopec is one of China’s prides – having ranked third in the Fortune Global 500 companies list in 2017. The oil refiner said its establishment 35 years ago is almost synonymous to China’s 40 years of reform and opening-up.

Lyu said Sinopec will continue to reform, and adapt to the changing world to become more internationalized.

“Our organization is managed in a more institutionalized way now. We have a good board structure, board of supervisors, complete decision-making mechanism. More importantly, we seek to strengthen party-building, to provide support for enterprise development,” Lyu said. 

As part of the State-owned Enterprise Open Day, Sinopec took both local and foreign media alike to its Yanshan Petrochemical Center (SYPC) in southwest Beijing on Friday. 

Reporters had a glimpse at SYPC’s safe production command center, polypropylene and wastewater purification recycling plant as well as its Niukouyu Wetland Park, an integrated eco-friendly industrial sewage area. 

SYPC is an important production base for synthetic rubber, synthetic resin and high quality refined oil for Sinopec. It has an oil refining capacity of 10 million tonnes and 800,000 tonnes of ethylene production capacity a year.

Li Gang, Chief Executive of SYPC said the center has taken the lead to upgrade the quality of oil products in China. 

“What’s most important going forward is to explore ways to further innovate, be independent and self-reliant,” Li said, adding, that safety and environmental protection remains core at the enterprise’s development efforts. 

Top image: Lyu Dapeng, spokesman of Sinopec said China and the US share a complementary relationship in energy and cooperation is the way forward.