Chinese Oil Giant Impacted By Flooding

The largest oil company in Asia, Sinopec, reports that 500 of its gas stations in China were closed, and some refinery equipment has been shut down because of flooding in the southern and central regions of the country.

Heavy rains and flooding have taken their toll on parts of the country. 173 people have died, 31 million people in 12 provinces have been affected and crops have been destroyed. Natural gas and oil pipelines have been damaged along with some port facilities. China Petroleum and Petrochemical reports that 300 gas stations were closed in mid-June and another 250 were “not safe to operate.”

No dollar amount has been placed on the damage. Sinopec closed some hydrogenation equipment and a part of a refining unit at a facility in Wuhan on 6 July when some pipelines were engulfed by water. The pair of units resumed output on the following day. Three oil storage facilities in the Anhui province were covered by water. On 8 July, Sinopec said that it expected crude output to be lowered for this year as compared to 2015, and that it would have difficulty meeting its profit margin for the third quarter.

In 2010, the China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, the parent company of Sinopec, closed some wells in the southern part of the country because of severe flooding. At that time, around 100 of the company’s wells in the Jiangsu province were closed.

As of June of this year, China’s oil reserves were up 64 percent as a result of increased exploration. Only 42 percent were considered to be recoverable. The total amount of oil reserves for the country are 126 billion tons, with 30 billion tons of reserves. That shows a significant increase from ten years ago.

Lincoln Brown for Oilprice.com

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