Natural Gas

In 2022, our operating volume of natural gas was 62.28 billion cubic meters, a decrease of 5.4%, with sales registering 59.71 billion cubic meters, down by 8.4%, 7.6 percentage points lower than the national average.

We fully unleashed the effectiveness of natural gas sales system reform, opened up resource export channels, ensured smooth sales channels, and further strengthened the role of domestic gas as a “ballast”. We vigorously developed domestic third-party sourcing, formulated supporting assessment and incentive measures, achieved significant breakthroughs in resource outsourcing, and effectively replaced high priced imported resources. We seized the favorable time slot, strictly controlled the procurement quantity of spot, prudently carried out hedging, and effectively hedged high procurement risks. We optimized resource flow, market layout, and customer structure, strived to control quantity and increased efficiency, significantly increasing the number, scale, and share of high-end users and high-quality markets. Based on maximizing the value of Sinopec’s entire industry chain, we vigorously developed LNG terminal direct supply business, with LNG sales to end users reaching 51% of the total LNG sales. We fully leveraged its comprehensive advantages, actively cultivated and developed high-quality terminals, completed 20 projects related to end users and established 9 companies of end users throughout 2022, resulting in increasingly significant terminal benefits. We stuck to the principles of “one household, one approach” and “one region, one approach”, flexibly carried out business strategies such as sequential settlement, tiered pricing, summer winter linkage, and optimization of contract volume structure, and facilitated market-oriented pricing of natural gas.

We accelerated the implementation of storage and transportation facilities layout, and focused on pushing the implementation of a number of projects that laid a foundation, broke bottlenecks, and created benefits for the long run. We acquired the Guangdong Chaozhou Huaying LNG project and completed the handover. The Zhoushan Liuheng LNG terminal was approved by the National Development and Reform Commission and Sinopec headquarters for feasibility study. The Zhangjiagang LNG transfer station in Jiangsu was approved by Sinopec headquarters for feasibility study. The Tianjin LNG Phase III Stage I and II were approved by the government and Sinopec headquarters for feasibility study. The No. 5 and No. 6 storage tanks of Tianjin LNG Phase II were completed in advance and put into use before winter. The construction of the first 270,000 cubic meter LNG storage tank in Qingdao LNG Phase III started, and the second jetty project saw mechanical completion. The implementation of Yantai Longkou LNG and Guangxi LNG Phase III were accelerated as planned. The main gas source pipelines for the Shandong South Main Line, the South Section of the East Main Line, the Anhui Northeast Pipeline Main Line and the Anhui North Branch Line, and the eastern part of the Zhongyuan Gas Storage were completed. The northwest gas gathering terminal Lunnan pipeline was put into operation in advance. The CNG upload project of Tayu station and the main body of Dingshan shale gas export pipeline were both completed, opening a new channel for resource upload. The Jintan Gas Storage increased capacity by 448,000 cubic meters, and that for the Huangchang Gas Storage was 56,000 cubic meters, effectively improving peak shaving capacity.

Oil Products and EasyJoy Services

In 2022, the total sales volume of oil and gas was 213 million tonnes, down 5.5%; the sales volume of domestic refined oil products was 163 million tonnes, down 5.1%, and the retail volume was 107 million tonnes, down 6.5%. Sales volume of natural gas was 4.18 billion cubic metres, a decrease of 16.8%. operating revenue of EasyJoy was 38.1 billion yuan, an increase of 7.6%.

Oil and Gas Marketing and Services.  The “100-day service improvement competition for petrol stations” was launched. Standardized customer service centres were built. A shared customer evaluation platform and a digital operation analysis platform for petrol stations were set up. Marketing was carried out with refueling cards and third-party cooperation. The “Thousand Stations Marketing” campaign was organized. X-Power Series marketing was continued. As a result of the above-mentioned measures, the retail competitiveness continued to improve. We insisted on market orientation and led market expectations, visited customers in depth, promoted digital marketing, promoted the “Sinopec Refueling” app and created a one-click oil delivery service, maximized sales and profit from direct sales and distribution. We carried out direct supply and designated allocation of internal natural gas resources, intensified the collective purchase of external resources, and built an LNG logistics system based on Sinopec Fuel Sales Company to enhance the ability to obtain natural gas resources. We updated strategic customer service, achieved multi-discipline cooperation with customers in industries such as logistics, electricity and construction, and developed marketing cooperation with mainstream banks at headquarter level to enhance customer service capabilities jointly. The Company promoted the completion of pilot projects in 24 municipalities in 10 provinces to build a “digital prosecution” and a cloud platform for intelligent monitoring of petrol stations, further purifying the market environment.

EasyJoy Service and Marketing.  The Company systematically promoted marketing and achieved remarkable results in the New Year’s Goods Festival, Car Care Festival, Wine and Drinks Festival and EasyShare Festival, with sales at the EasyShare Festival reaching a record high of 3.86 billion yuan, an increase of 42%. The “Ten Billion Club” was further developed with 372 stores selling premium wine and wine sales increasing by 38.8%. We also strengthened the marketing of small and medium-sized packaging Great Wall lubricants, promoted the layout of exhaust fluid additive, seized the opportunity to replace coal-fired denitrification technology, developed the industrial urea market and consolidated our first-mover advantage in environmental protection products. We added the auto sales business with the focus on auto after-market consumption and achieved auto sales of 1 billion yuan, an increase of 60%. We created local specialties, fresh food map and other special shops, livestreamed 27 times selling fresh food, and set up 145 special zones for outdoors products. We completed the investment promotion for the catering business and added 167 new catering projects. A total of 9,313 auto service projects were developed and 5,263 Internet connected car washing machines, creating the largest self-operated car wash service system in China. We expanded advertising business with 32,000 Internet connected electronic screens and implemented the “Easy Insurance” business to enhance the stickiness of car owners.

Marketing Network.   We standardised and unified the new image of stations and shops, completed the renovation of 1,312 stations. The Company activated inventory of assets with unique plan for each station, and upgraded 293 inefficient, ineffective gasoline stations, reopening 72 and leasing 60. We optimised the layout of oil depots, shut down 11 oil depots, built, renovated and expanded seven oil depots with 500,000 cubic metres of storage capacity added, and intelligently renovated 49 depots. We focused on network growth, put 811 petrol stations into operation, increased the development of LNG networks in Northwest China, North China and other regions, and put 135 filling stations into operation. We enriched our online business and marketing, established online and platform-based management mechanisms, and built a nationwide unified membership operation system, with more than 140 million members in all channels, including more than 47 million equity members, and a gross merchandise volume (GMV) of 548.1 billion yuan.

New Energy Business Development.  We accelerated the development of hydrogen energy business by developing 24 hydrogen refuelling stations for the year and making the total number reached 98, with a domestic network share of over 30%; hydrogen sales volume was 1,735 tonnes, with a market share of 40%, making Sinopec the company with the largest number of hydrogen refuelling stations built and operated in the world. The Company actively deployed charging and battery swapping network by developing 1,004 stations and making the total number reach 2,299, with over 11,000 charging spaces, over 170 million kW-h of charging and battery swapping operation, and serving 9.4 million vehicles. The “Photovoltaic+” initiative was vigorously promoted, with 1,199 photovoltaic stations developed in the year and 2,452 completed in total, with an installed capacity of 88 MW, generating more than 50 million kW-h of electricity and saving an average of about 20,000 yuan in electricity costs for a single station.

Fuel oil

Our annual operating volume of fuel oil reached 30.59 million tonnes.

New breakthrough in both quantity and efficiency was realized in bonded oil.  We adhered to the philosophy of “expanding sales, controlling procurement, reducing inventory, pushing prices, and shifting peaks”, and achieved a linkage between physical and paper trading, leading to a stable upward trend in prices in the Asia Pacific region. We optimized the “full production and full sales” chain of petrochemical resources, implemented a three-month logistics inventory rolling plan, terminated the leasing of 264,000 cubic meters of storage, reduced 13% coastal freight through bidding, achieved 8 million tonnes of petrochemical low sulfur bunker fuel and “full production and full sales” of MGO, and contributed to the adjustment of Sinopec’s industrial structure. We completed the construction of 15 offshore mobile gas stations, created a service team for oil supply, and continuously improved service quality. The annual operating volume of bonded oil reached 10.03 million tonnes, an increase of 3%, breaking 10 million tonne for the first time, and the market share reached 46%.

The quantity and quality of domestic trade scored new achievements.  We made “visiting enterprises, providing services, expanding business, and creating benefits” a normal practice. The Zhoushan subsidiary, Zhejiang subsidiary, and Shanghai subsidiary have established an integrated domestic and foreign trade process. 197 end users were added for domestic trade ship refueling, and an integrated fuel support summary meeting was held with the maritime police to move forward the transfer of 8 stations on waters in Jiangsu and optimize the layout of Guangdong’s network, and started operation of Shanghai’s second on-water green comprehensive service area, improving the operation of on-water business. We completed the first domestic ship refueling of 90 tonnes of methanol, arousing strong interest. The annual domestic trade achieved a business volume of 7.4 million tonnes, including 1.82 million tonnes of ship refueling, up by 22%.

Other Refined Oil Products

The total sales volume of self-marketing refined products was 36.02 million tonnes. We managed to increase the total volume of self-operation, with the annual self-operating volume of 5.4 million tonnes, an increase of 42.5% year-on-year. We continued to build “specialties and new products”. Needle coke was successfully applied to high-end graphite electrodes and negative electrode materials. And clean asphalt was successfully applied to the Shanghai Songze road paving project. Product sales reached a new record high, with LPG and petroleum coke volumes exceeding 10 million tonnes in 2022.

The annual sales volume of lubricating grease were 1.271 million tonnes, maintaining a stable increase in market share and occupying the top position in the industry under the difficult situation of soaring costs and shrinking demand. We insisted on sci-tech guidance, achieved new breakthroughs in high-end support, obtained 106 authorized patents, 50 OEM certifications, accumulated more than 20,000 cases of lubricants application in key equipment, developed 88 new processes and technologies such as low-lithium grease thickening technology, and realized a technical value contribution of over 100 million yuan.

Chemical products

We fully served production subsidiaries and downstream customers.  We dynamically evaluated the pandemic situation where the subsidiaries locate, tracked the load, inventory, and storage capacity of the subsidiaries in advance, scientifically allocated internal and external supply resources within Sinopec, and uniformly dispatched national logistics resources. None of the Sinopec subsidiaries reduced or stopped production due to raw material supply, product sales, and logistics difficulties, effectively ensuring the supply of raw materials to downstream customers and the smooth operation of the chemical industrial chain. We adhered to market orientation, accommodated customer needs, assisted the subsidiaries in dynamically optimizing production scheduling, increased production and marketable products, timely coordinated and dovetailed with downstream customers, made good product delivery arrangements, and ensured that the devices meeting customer needs were fully opened. We effectively responded to the emergencies related to industry production equipment, took a series of emergency measures, achieved resource rebalancing as quickly as possible, ensured the supply of core customer resources, and provided strong guarantees for the smooth resumption of work and production for the subsidiaries. We proactively served the supply of raw materials and sales of new products for new installations, and received full recognition from both Sinopec subsidiaries and non-Sinopec customers.

We built a standardized service system with customers at the core, carried out the construction of a standardized customer service system, improved the operational mechanism of customer service, and continuously improved customer satisfaction.   We followed the philosophy of “customer-centric” and strengthened the transformation from “doing business within the stores” to “doing business as itinerant traders”. Through over 15,000 customers visits in various forms, we developed and served multiple production-centric customers, fully ensured the service needs of direct sales customers. By expanding high-quality channels for procurement and sales, we helped customers find high-quality resources, put their needs at first, and responded to their urgent needs, making every effort to reduce costs and create value for them. We deepened collaborative cooperation with strategic clients, implemented strategic cooperation project management, carefully designed a package of solutions for clients, and increased the supply of strategic clients against the downward trend.

We stuck to meticulous work, actively carried forward the promotion and application of new chemical materials.   We comprehensively deepened strategic cooperation with companies of building materials, automotive materials, and new energy materials, strengthened the organic integration of new product research and development and downstream customer application development, collaborated with production subsidiaries and multiple strategic customers to jointly develop multiple specialized material brand products, effectively drove the new product development and market-oriented application. We actively created a cooperation alliance for waste plastic recycling industry, opened up green development markets such as degradable materials, and laid the foundation for further promoting green marketing. We collaborated with production subsidiaries and research institutions to establish a professional technical service and product support team, provided customers with high-quality application supporting services, and accelerated connecting the “last mile” of products towards customers.

We actively implemented the concept of green and low-carbon development,  strengthened the systematic research on directing green transformation in the chemical industry, advanced the layout of low-carbon and environmentally friendly chemical products, accelerated the market layout of industries such as photovoltaic, biodegradable, recycling, and automotive lightweight, guided our subsidiaries to produce green products, directed our research and development institutions to develop green products, led our customers to use green products, integrated green concepts into product marketing, and steered upstream production subsidiaries, downstream customers, and logistics service providers to jointly practice the green and low-carbon concept. We increased the proportion of railway and waterway transportation, vigorously developed multimodal transportation such as rail, highway, and waterway, and focused on facilitating the coordination of multiple transportation modes. We pushed the application of biodegradable and environmentally friendly plastics and recycled chemicals in logistics fields such as product packaging, extended green factory methods such as heavy trucks refueled by hydrogen and shared pallets, and actively created a low consumption, low emission, recyclable, and sustainable logistics operation system.

We pursued safe and stable operation, and maintained safe development of the chemical industrial chain.  We followed the guidance of the “Compliance Management Strengthening Year” as a special action, made risk investigation a normal practice, and firmly adhered to the bottom line of no major risks. We facilitated the systematization of institutional construction, further strengthened the penetration of the institutional system, continuously carried forward the visualization of business processes, and fully utilized information technology to improve management efficiency and effectiveness. We deepened the operation of the HSE system, consolidated safety responsibilities at all levels, and conscientiously carried out the “Safety Production Month” and “Hundred Day Safety Action”, effectively ensuring the safe and stable operation of product sales.

Catalysts.  We strengthened the domestication to replace imports. The domestic market share of PX adsorbent continued to increase. Domestically produced silver catalyst with high spatiotemporal yield replaced the imported one for the first time in Yangzi Petrochemical and Maoming Petrochemical, while the domestication of catalysts for boiling bed residue hydrogenation and high-end polyolefins continued to accelerate, further consolidating the dominant position in the domestic catalyst market.