Sinopec out of PetroChina gas project

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec), which was to take a 5% stake in PetroChina's West-East natural gas pipeline, will not invest in the project after all. PetroChina Chairman Chen Geng revealed the news after announcing PetroChina's first half results, a 17.3% rise in net profit, to RMB 45.29 billion. The speculation is Sinopec decided against investing after talks broke down with foreign partners and Shell and ExxonMobil left the project. The two were originally to take a 45% stake. Chen said that both PetroChina and Sinopec agreed that if Sinopec developed a productive field in the Tarim basin in Xinjiang Autonomous Region, the West-East pipeline would transport Sinopec's gas.