¡¡¡¡China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (hereinafter referred to as ¡°Sinopec Corp.¡±) is a vertically integrated energy and chemical company that specializes in the exploration & production of crude oil and natural gas, oil refining, trading and distribution, chemical production and retailing. Sinopec Corp. owns a raft of over 80 subsidiaries and branches. It¡¯s listed in Hong Kong, New York, London and Shanghai Stock Exchanges. In 2006, it ranked 23rd on the Fortune Global 500. It has a capacity of 160m tons per annum in oil refinery, ranking 3rd in the world and 6.60m tons per annum in ethylene production, ranking 4th in the world. It boasts the biggest retail network of refined oil in China, owning and operating 28,000 petrol stations.

¡¡¡¡Sinopec International Co., Ltd is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sinopec Corp. It was incorporated in July 1983 with a founding capital of RMB 1.42 billion, and it was to represent Sinopec Corp. in all international trade dealings.

¡¡¡¡Sinopec Procurement Division is dedicated to the supply management and central procurement of bulk general-purpose materials and key equipments for Sinopec Corp.

¡¡¡¡In March 2006, the two entities were merged to form a single body, serving the triple functions of supply management, central procurement and international trade for Sinopec Corp. The new entity consists of 22 departments that specialize in the afore-mentioned areas. It has also 15 local business branches and 3 subsidiaries around China and 7 overseas offices located respectively in the US, Japan, Germany, Ecuador and Hong Kong SAR.

¡¡¡¡In 2006, Sinopec Procurement Division (Sinopec International Co., Ltd) accomplished a total volume of RMB 56.64 billion in direct and centralized procurement, RMB 113 billion in E-procurement (online trading), and a total import and export volume of USD 35 billion (including crude oil and fuel businesses). It was awarded by the Commerce Ministry of P. R. China as No. 1 of the China Top 500 International Trading Companies for 7 consecutive years starting from 1999 till 2005, and No. 19 of the 2005 China Top 200 Exporters.