Sinopec President Yu Baocai was speaking after sources last week told Reuters that Shell had hired Goldman Sachs to advise on a potential sale of its Singapore assets and that Sinopec was among the companies reviewing them.

This is in line with an earlier Reuters reports saying Sinopec and TotalEnergies were in separate discussions with state-run Saudi Aramco to invest in the Jafurah project, the largest shale gas development outside the U.S., with reserves estimated at 200 trillion cubic feet of raw gas.

Sri Lanka shortlisted Sinopec and commodities trader Vitol to become potential investors in a proposed export-oriented refinery in Hambantota.

Separately, Sinopec is set to start operating a retail fuel business in the island nation next month.

Chinese refiners have benefited from cheap crude oil supplies from Iran, Venezuela and Russia as Western sanctions have forced those producers to sell oil at deep discounts to keep revenue flowing.

Although Chinese state majors have shied away from Iranian and Venezuelan oil, Sinopec has been taking in Russian supplies, traders have said.

NEWS: REUTERS