COSCO to double oil transport capability
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-06-19 11:15

China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (COSCO), the country's biggest shipping company, announced Friday it would expand its crude oil fleet to nearly 4 million deadweight tons in three years, from the current 1.94 million deadweight tons.

The ambitious plan was made to cater to COSCO's establishment of a long-term strategic partnership for cooperation with Sinopec, China's leading producer and supplier of petroleum products. A framework agreement on the cooperation was signed here Friday afternoon.

Under the agreement, COSCO would provide quality crude oil transport services to Sinopec, which in return, would meet the demand of COSCO's crude oil fleet for shipment, said Ma Zehua, vice president of COSCO.

The cooperation will benefit both companies and lay a solid foundation for establishing a state oil shipping fleet and safeguarding China's oil import transportation on the sea, Ma said.

Both sides agreed they would seek to expand cooperation to other fields in the future, he added.

China, which has become a net oil importer, bought 86 million tons of crude oil on the international market last year. Experts estimated the figure might exceed 100 million tons this year.

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