U.S. oil giant Exxon Mobil to boost sales on Chinese mainland

U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil is increasing oil products supply to China, as the market is becoming more critically important to its future strategy, China Daily reported Friday.

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, the newspaper said, citing Sherman Glass, president of Exxon Mobil Refining & Supply Company.

The around 40-billion-yuan (about 5.88 billion U.S. dollars) Fujian project, in which Exxon Mobil has a 25-percent stake, will triple Fujian's annual oil refining capacity to 12 million tonnes from 4 million tonnes. It can produce 7.5 million tonnes of refined oil a year, according to the newspaper.

The U.S. company is currently spending several billion dollars to expand its refining and petrochemical facility in Singapore. When completed in 2011, it will be Exxon Mobil's largest manufacturing complex in the world and a big part of products from the Singaporean project will be exported to China, said Glass.

He expected 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 and about60 percent of the growth in the region is from China.

Source: Xinhua