CNOOC Opens First Petrol Station in Guangdong

Source: Reuters

China National Offshore Oil Corp , the country's number three oil producer, has taken a step into the retail sector by opening a service station in southern Guangdong province, a company report said.

The Shihuaxi station is the first of 30 planned for the area around Huizhou city, which will ultimately be supplied with fuel from the firm's nearby Huizhou refinery, the company said in a report on its Web site .

CNOOC aims to build a distribution network including 300 petrol stations in Guangdong -- China's manufacturing hub, where it will sell most of its production -- and a storage centre in Dongguan city to be linked with the new plant via a pipeline.

The 240,000 barrels-per-day refinery, due to come online next year, is slated to produce 3.56 million tonnes of high quality diesel, 1.25 million tonnes of gasoline and 2.1 million tonnes of jet fuel.

Although the auto-loving habits of China's rapidly growing middle-class should make retail a lucrative sector, Beijing often holds state-set domestic fuel prices below international market levels, pushing refiners and retailers into the red.

Editor: Jessie Hwang