China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), China's largest oil refiner, said Wednesday that its crude oil output in 2005 reached 278.82 million barrels, up 1.7 percent over 2004.

According to the company, it produced 221.92 billion cubic feet of natural gas in 2005, up 7.20 percent year-on-year and refined 139.94 million tons of crude oil, 5.26 percent higher than a year ago.

Sinopec produced 54.92 million tons of diesel in 2005, up 7.92 percent over 2004, 6.63 million tons of kerosene, up 4.25 percent and 21.10 million tons of light chemical feedstock, up 19.21 percent.

However, Sinopec's output of gasoline in 2005 dropped by 2.54 percent from a year ago to 22.98 million tons.

Dong Xiucheng, professor with China University of Petroleum, said that the growth of diesel output is a reaction made by the enterprise to the rising demand of the Chinese market.

Niu Li, an analyst with the Economic Forecasting Department of the State Information Center, said the gap between the price of China's oil products which is kept relatively low by the government and the price of crude oil which is in line with soaring international oil price is one of the major factors contributing to the drop of gasoline output.

In the chemical sector, Sinopec reported the output of ethylene of 5.319 million tons, 30.56 percent up from 2004, synthetic resins of 7.605 million tons, up 22.25 percent and synthetic rubbers of 626,000 tons, up 11.59 percent.

Sinopec's output of synthetic fibers in 2005 is 1.57 million tons, 5.08 percent down from a year ago and the output of urea is 1.78 million tons, 32.32 percent down year-on-year.

Ethylene is the major material for producing synthetic resins, synthetic rubbers and synthetic fibers, and light chemical feedstock is the raw material for producing ethylene.

Dong said that China's booming chemical market in 2005 boosted Sinopec's yield of light chemical feedstock, ethylene, and synthetic chemical products.

Sinopec's total domestic sales of refined oil products reached 104.56 million tons in 2005, up 10.54 percent from a year ago.

Its retail volume is 63.52 million tons, up 19.29 percent over 2004 while its wholesale volume is 20.66 million tons, down 4.75 percent from a year ago.

Developing retail market is the common strategy of China's top two petroleum enterprises, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and Sinopec, in building integrated oil enterprises, said Dong.

Source: Xinhua