China's Sinopec Corp will acquire equity interests in three oil refineries and 63 petrol stations from its parent company, Sinopec Group Corp, Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday.
Under an agreement reached on Friday, the listed company will acquire a 100 percent of Sinopec Hangzhou Oil Refinery Plant, take a 59.5 percent stake in Yangzhou Petrochemical Plant and a 75 percent interest under a joint venture contract with Zhanjiang Dongxing Petrochemical Co Ltd, the report said.
Sinopec Corp, Asia's largest refiner, will also acquire the operating rights of 63 petrol stations from Sinopec Sales and Industrial Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sinopec Group.
The operating rights will "rationalise Sinopec's marketing of its petroleum products (and) facilitate the expansion of its refined oil retail network," the report said.
China has been facing a major fuel crunch, with queues at petrol stations around the country in the past few months as refiners retreat from the loss-making market. The crisis forced Beijing to raise fuel prices 10 percent in November.
Sinopec Yangzi Petrochemical, a subsidiary wholly owned by Sinopec Corp, also entered into two equity transfer agreements on Friday to acquire Sinopec Group's 100 percent interests in Taizhou Petrochemical and Qingjiang Petrochemical, the report said.
The acquisitions are valued at 3.66 billion yuan ($501 million), and are to be funded by the resources of Sinopec Corp and Sinopec Yangzi, it said. The five refineries together have a total annual capacity of 8 million tonnes. The deals still require the approval of China's State-owned Assets Supervision Administration Commission.