Sinopec and PNG LNG Finalize LNG Sale / Purchase Deal       

On December 3rd, 2009 Unipec Asia Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec Corp.) and Esso Highlands Limited, a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corporation and operator of the Papua New Guinea Liquefied Natural Gas (PNG LNG) Project, announced that Sinopec Corp. and the project participants have entered into a binding sales and purchase agreement for the long-term sale and purchase of LNG.
   Under the agreement, the PNG LNG Project will supply approximately 2.0 million tons of LNG per year to Sinopec's LNG terminal in Shandong province over 20 years.
   Sinopec Corp is planning to build the Shangdong LNG terminal. And the phase I capacity of the terminal is 3 million tons per year, which will be expanded to 5 - 6 million tons per year with the market conditions in the phase II stage.
    This LNG terminal will provide long-term and reliable clean natural gas resources to the Shandong market and will play a positive role in meeting the local demand, optimizing the energy mix and improving the local environment, according to Mr. Wang Zhigang, senior vice president of Sinopec Corp.
   The PNG LNG Project is an integrated development which includes gas production and processing facilities, onshore pipelines and offshore pipelines and LNG plant facilities. Participating interests are ExxonMobil (through affiliates, including Esso Highlands Limited as Operator) 41.5%, Oil Search 34.0%, Santos 17.7%, Nippon Oil 5.4%, Mineral Resources Development Company 1.2 %, and Petromin PNG Holdings Limited 0.2%.