Sinopec teams with Tencent for sales business

BEIJING - China's largest oil refiner Sinopec announced its subsidiary Sinopec Sales had signed a framework cooperation agreement with the country's Internet giant Tencent over sales business, mobile payment and big data services on Tuesday.

Sinopec chairman Fu Chengyu has repeatedly expressed interest in cooperation with e-commerce companies for more growth.

Fu met Tencent's president Liu Chiping earlier this month to discuss a potential deal.

Sinopec announced in February that it planned to sell up to 30 percent of Sinopec Sales to private investors by the year-end as the Chinese government was pushing forward restructuring of State-owned assets.

Sinopec Sales booked a net profit of 25.1 billion yuan ($4.1 billion) in 2013, with operating revenue of nearly 1.5 trillion yuan. It owned more than 30,000 petrol stations and 23,000 convenience stores across the country as of last year.

Sinopec, Yhd ink branding deal	Tencent earnings in Q2 up 58%, beating estimates