CNOOC to build its first refinery

China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) signed a US$2.47 billion agreement with US-based WorleyParsons Energy Services LLC to build its first refinery in Guangdong Province, marking CNOOC's move to engage in both upstream oil and gas exploitation and the downstream refining business. Under the agreement signed Thursday, the construction of the refinery, with a capacity to process 12 million tons of crude oil annually, is expected to be completed by mid-2008, a CNOOC executive told China Daily. When completed, it will be one of the country's largest, rivaling Sinopec's five refineries with an annual crude processing capacity estimated to be at least 10 million tons.