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ExxonMobil to boost mainland sales
By Wan Zhihong (China Daily/Agencies)
Updated: 2009-11-13 08:57
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US oil major ExxonMobil is increasing both onshore and offshore oil products supply to China, as the market is becoming more critically important to its future strategy, said a senior company executive.
The company's onshore product supply to China will be greatly enhanced by the Fujian integrated refining and petrochemical complex, which went into full operation on Wednesday. "It is our one major move in the Chinese market," Sherman Glass, president of ExxonMobil Refining & Supply Company told China Daily in an exclusive interview.
The around 40-billion-yuan ($5.9 billion) Fujian project, in which ExxonMobil has a 25-percent stake, will triple Fujian's annual oil refining capacity to 12 million tons from 4 million tons. It can produce 7.5 million tons of refined oil a year.
The US company is currently spending several billion dollars to expand its refining and petrochemical facility in Singapore. When completed in 2011, it will be ExxonMobil's largest manufacturing complex in the world. "A big part of our products from the Singaporean project will be exported to China," said Glass.
Although China still accounts for a relatively small part in ExxonMobil's global sales, the market is of strategic importance to the company as the growth potential is huge, said Glass.
"We expect demand in the Asia Pacific region for liquid products to grow about 2 percent per year with product demand projected to increase about 55 percent from 2005 to 2030," he said. "About 60 percent of the growth in the region is from China."
The booming demand is driven by rapid growth in the car fleet, increasing road and sea freight movements, and strong growth in the demand for chemical feedstock, he said.
The International Energy Agency said in its annual outlook, issued this week, that it expects demand for oil to fall in developed economies through 2030 while Chinese demand increases by 3.5 percent a year. In 15 years, China is expected to surpass the US as the world's largest spender on oil and natural gas.
Although fuel prices in China are still controlled by the government, which to some extent prevented domestic refineries from passing on their increasing costs to consumers, Glass said ExxonMobil's investment in the Fujian project is with a "long-term perspective".
The mode of integration production will also help boost development of China's petrochemical industry in terms of energy efficiency and environmental protection.
The Fujian complex is also integrated with a fuels marketing joint venture owned by Sinopec, 55 percent, and ExxonMobil and Saudi Aramco 22.5 percent each. The marketing venture operates approximately 750 gas stations in Fujian province.
By the end of the year, around 300 stations among the 750 will use joint brands for operation, said Glass.
ExxonMobil has had several recent successes in tapping into the Chinese markets. This year it signed long-term, multi-billion-dollar deals with Sinopec and PetroChina to deliver liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Papua New Guinea and Australia.
 The lowest third-quarter profits in six years for ExxonMobil showed how the recession eroded energy demand, pulling down fuel prices and net income for one of the world's biggest oil companies. [Agencies]
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