IN BRIEF (Page 15)

State-owned and turning a profit

China's State-owned enterprises (SOEs) continued to grow in the first four months of this year, but at a slower pace, according to the Ministry of Finance (MOF).

The revenues of non-finance SOEs dipped 1.9 percent in April, but the revenues of the country's SOEs overall, in the first four months, rose 24 percent year-on-year to 11.12 trillion yuan ($1.71 trillion), the MOF said on Thursday.

Profits from the non-finance SOEs rose 24.2 percent from the same period last year to 712.59 billion yuan in the January-to-April period, compared with a 24.1 percent year-on-year increase in costs, which stood at 10.44 trillion yuan.

Chongqing city cuts power deal

The China Guodian Corp is planning to put 20 billion yuan ($3 billion) into energy programs in the mega city of Chongqing over the next five years, the company said.

According to an agreement it made with the municipal government, the company will fund a variety of energy projects, in thermal power, wind power, natural gas, and biomass power in Chongqing and surrounding areas.

Zhu Yongpeng, the company's general manager, estimates that power consumption in the city will grow at an annual average rate of 12.1 percent over the next five years.

Oil development in Tianjin

Construction work on a Sino-Russian crude oil refinery is expected to begin in the northern industrial city of Tianjin in the second half of the year, local officials have said.

Oriental Refinery, a joint venture of the PetroChina Co Ltd and Russia's Rosneft, with 30 billion yuan ($4.62 billion) in backing, is designed to process 13 million tons of crude oil annually.

It is expected to start operation in 2015, said Wang Junming, general manager of the Nangang industrial zone, where the project is located.

The Sino-Russian refinery is expected to generate annual revenues of 60 billion yuan after operations commence.

Liquid gold out of coal

The Shenhua Group, China's largest coal producer, has made immense profits from its pilot coal-to-liquid (CTL) project in North China in the first three months of this year, a company executive said on Saturday.

Zhang Yuzhuo, general manager of the goup, said at a forum in Anhui province that the group's CTL project in the Inner Mongolia produced 216,000 tons of refined oil products in the first quarter, bringing in more than 100 million yuan ($15.38 million) in profits.

The CTL project, which is seen as an important alternative to petroleum, was completed in late 2008, as the world's first large CTL gas plant.

China Daily - Agencies

(China Daily 05/24/2011 page15)