In 2023, Sinopec acted in accordance with the strategies as accelerating international energy cooperation, contributed to the high quality energy cooperation along the Belt & Road, improved our global footprints, and struck new progress in Sinopec's international operation.

By the end of 2023, Sinopec has developed an international landscape covering both oil and gas E&P, and onshore and offshore as well as conventional and unconventional development. We finished 2D seismic of 872 kilometers and 52 exploration and evaluation wells, and scored multiple exploration breakthroughs and commercial oil and gas discoveries in Egypt, Cameroon, Angola, and Australia, 10.425 million tonnes of oil equivalent in new 2P reserves and 2C resources through exploration, exceeding the annual reserve target. Following the overall guidance of "making progress while remaining steady" in new project development, we became an equity partner in Qatar's NFE project. In 2023, Sinopec put into operation 497 new wells, with a new equity production capacity of 2.79 million tonnes, overseas equity oil and gas output of 31.87 million tonnes of oil equivalent, including 24.1 million tonnes of crude oil and 9.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas. The low efficient and inefficient assets were further disposed and our asset structure was further improved, with the North Sea Project and Addax Nigeria Project closed.

We focused on high-quality development, enhanced key markets as the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa, and entered Saudi Aramco's exploration service market for the first time. As of the end of 2023, we had provided petroleum engineering technical services in 28 countries, with 309 contracts being executed and a contract value of USD 18.6 billion. 67 new contracts were signed with an amount of USD 2.38 billion, and contracts completed with an amount of USD 2.26 billion.

By the end of 2023, Sinopec had invested 8 refining and chemical and warehousing and storage projects in 6 countries and regions (including Hong Kong Special Administrative Region), owned an overseas equity refining capacity of 7.5 million tonnes/year, a polyolefin output of 688,500 tonnes/year, a warehousing and storage capacity of 1.613 million cubic meters, a lubricant capacity of 125,000 tonnes/year, and an NBR capacity of 11,900 tonnes/year. There have been 232 Sinopec service stations in Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, and Sri Lanka. YASREF remained profitable by seizing the favorable market opportunities and overcoming challenges like the narrowed cracking spread and the unplanned shutdown of facilities. We extended our reach in countries along the Belt & Road Initiative, signed the agreement to complete the equity transfer of Silleno, a JV developing the polyethylene production project in Kazakhstan, won the Sri Lanka's refining project, and entered the oil products' retail markets of Thailand and Sri Lanka, scoring strategic breakthroughs in business extension.

We consolidated and up-scaled major markets like the Middle East, enhanced development in the high-end markets, successfully became shortlisted in Saudi Aramco's FEED and PMC, marking the first time for winning and undertaking overseas PMC project, and actively explored the new energy project development in Oman, the UAE, and Egypt. By the end of 2023, Sinopec had provided refining and chemical engineering services in 14 countries, with 86 contracts under execution and a contract value of USD 7.32 billion. The newly signed contracts for the year reached 54, which recorded USD 3.05 billion contract value, hitting a historic high. 28 contracts were finished, registering a contract value of USD 780 million.

In 2023, our international trading volume of oil and gas was 343 million tonnes. The operating volume of crude oil stood at 326 million tonnes, and the crude import was 227 million and the third-party trade volume was 99 million tonnes. The operating volume of LNG was 16.67 million tonnes (equivalent to 23.6 billion cubic meters), with 13.61 million tonnes imported (equivalent to 19.2 billion cubic meters) and 3.06 million tonnes from third-party trade. The operating volume of oil products was 60.72 million tonnes, hitting a record high since 2020, where the import of oil products was 5.81 million tonnes, the export was 24.4 million exported, and the third-party trade volume was 30.51 million tonnes.

In 2023, the overall international operating volume for chemical products reached 7.88 million tonnes, generating a trading volume of USD 5.21 billion. The overall international operating volume of lubricants was 220,000 tonnes, recording a trading volume of USD 280 million. The overall international operating volume of fuel oil was 15.92 million tonnes, leading to a trading volume of USD 8.42 billion. The overall international operating volume of refining by-products was 1.49 million tonnes, with a trading volume of USD 530 million. The overall international operating volume of catalysts was 26,000 tonnes, creating a trading volume of USD 240 million. The international trade volume of equipment and materials was USD 160 million, and the transaction amount of EPEC International Business Platform yielded USD 12.02 billion.

In 2023, Sinopec officially signed the shareholder agreement with Ineos to set up a 50%:50% joint venture. We started building and operating together the Tianjin Nangang Chemical Project with a 1.2 mtpa ethylene cracker.

We proceeded with the domestic oil and gas joint ventures and cooperation as the Cheng Dao Xi E&P PSC project in Shengli oilfield and Sanjiaobei CBM project, made adjustments in developing the cooperative blocks, set up the project teams for new well operation, and strengthened the integrated and whole-process management over drilling, completion, extraction, and surface construction, thus consolidating the foundation for stabilizing the production. By the end of 2023, the cumulative crude production of those projects amounted to 8.5862 million tonnes, and that for natural gas was 203 million cubic meters.