Sinopec to sign crude oil agreement with PBR

Comments China Petrochemical Corp. (Sinopec Group) Chairman Su Shulin said on April 15 that the company will sign a package of agreements including crude oil procurements with Brazilian Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PBR).
Huang Wensheng, a Sinopec Group spokesperson said the agreement will be signed between PBR and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec), a listed subsidiary of the group.
The deal is based on the agreement signed in May 2009, where PBR will continue to supply crude oil to Sinopec in the next 10 years at 150, 000 barrels per day for the first year and 200,000 barrels per day for the following nine years.
Sinopec's own crude oil output in China is at about 40 million tons every year, with less than a 2 percent increase annually, while domestic demand for product oil is expected to rise at approximately 5 percent in the next five years. To meet the increasing demand, Sinopec has increased its overseas procurements.
A senior PBR supervisor revealed that both parties have agreed to jointly invest in two deepwater blocks in Northern Brazil. On April 15, the two companies signed a second agreement to cooperate in refining and the supply of goods and services to the oil industry.
Statistics from the Chinese government shows China's daily imports of crude oil from Brazil is 186,000 barrels for the first two months of 2010.
As one of the biggest oil providers in South America, PBR earned $16.1 billion in 2009, down 12 percent from 2008.