OREANDA-NEWS. China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation Third Quarterly Report for 2013. In the first three quarters of 2013, China's economy grew steadily with GDP up by 7.7% over the same period of last year. Domestic demand for oil products and chemical products continued to grow.

The Chinese government further improved the pricing mechanism for oil products, implemented an adjustment of natural gas price and announced the premium pricing policy for upgraded quality oil products.

Based on macro-economy trends and market demand, the Company arranged the operation with quality and efficiency being the priorities for development, accelerated the structure adjustment and the transformation of development mode and exercised strict control over cost and expenditures. All these efforts contribute to a good operating result.

The Company's capital expenditures were RMB 86.945 billion in the first three quarters of 2013. Capital expenditures for E&P segment were RMB 41.249 billion, mainly for tight oil development in south Ordos, heavy oil development in west Shengli at shallow stratus, new blocks in the Tahe Oilfield, Yuanba and the Daniudi gas fields, and the Shandong LNG project.

Capital expenditures for the Refining Segment were RMB 12.712 billion, mainly for upgrading oil product quality and revamping projects in Wuhan, Anqing and Maoming etc..

In the Chemicals segment, RMB 12.759 billion were used for the construction of the Wuhan 800,000-tp a ethylene project, the Hubei syngas–to-MEG project and the Hainan aromatics project. Capital expenditures for Marketing and Distribution segment were RMB 17.363 billion, mainly for developing and revamping service stations (including gas stations), for the construction of refined oil product pipelines and depots and for assuring safety and improving environment.

The Company recruited 671 new service stations (including gas stations) during the period. A total of RMB 2.862 billion was used for the Corporate and Others, mainly for R&D facilities and IT projects construction.

The capital expenditure in the first three quarters of this year was in line with the Company's schedule as slated  at the beginning of the year.