5 Petroleum Giants Eager To create Chinese JVs

The Chinese Government has accorded permission for three joint ventures between the Chinese enterprises and foreign ones: one by Royal Dutch/Shell, and two by BP to build and operate service stations.

The joint venture between international oil and gas giant Shell and China?s largest refiner Sinopec are going to build and operate 500 stations in Jiangsu Province in three years.

BP set up a JV with Sinopec to have 500 similar stations built in neighbouring Zhejiang Province, while another JV with PetroChina will run another 500 outlets in Guangdong Province.

More such JVs are pending of the government approval, such as US ExxonMobil and Saudi Aramco, who plan to build a 600-station JV with Sinopec in Fujian Province. Besides, France's TotalFinaElf also wants to crack into the market through a proposed JV with Sinochem Corp, the fourth largest State oil company in China, to build 300 petrol stations in North China, including Beijing.