As the price of international crude soared beyond US$70 a barrel, Sinopec said it expects within a month to reach an agreement with Beijing on how to set China's petroleum product prices, the South China Morning Post reported, citing Sinopec president Wang Tianpu. Beijing's petroleum price controls have been partially blamed for the first-half operating losses of US$732 million incurred by PetroChina's refining operation, and of the US$159 million loss incurred by Sinopec.