(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-09-11 21:15

In China, oil prices are controlled by the government, which has subsidized oil companies since 2005. Last year Sinopec received five billion yuan (US$657.9 million) from the government.

Since July, oil product supplies have fallen short of demand. Last month, China's top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), required China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) and Sinopec, the country's two major gasoline producers, to increase market supplies in a bid to ensure market supply and stabilize oil prices.

Statistics show Sinopec's output of processed crude oil last month was up by 370,000 tons compared with the monthly average of the January-July period while its export of oil products dropped by 160,000 tons, both contributing to a 390,000-ton increase of supply in the domestic market.

China has risen quickly to become the world's second largest oil consumer after the United States and the third biggest importer after the United States and Japan.

According to customs figures, China imported 145 million tons of crude oil and 36.4 million tons of refined oil in 2006, spending 15.3 billion U.S. dollars more than the previous year because of soaring oil prices in the global market.

The nation will use up to 350 million tons of oil this year, 10 million tons more than last year, said Jiang Xinmin, an expert with the Energy Institute under the NDRC.

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