(Yicai Global) Nov. 4 -- Oil giant China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, or Sinopec, today signed purchase contracts with 34 partners from 14 countries and regions, involving products including crude oil, chemicals, equipment and materials, with a total contract value of USD40.1 billion, according to The Paper.

Sinopec held the signing ceremony for the contracts as well as the Sinopec Theme Forum at the Fifth China International Import Expo today. The company has reached a cumulative contract value of over USD200 billion throughout the five expos. Sinopec [SHA: 600028; HKG: 0386] closed up 0.71 percent at CNY4.23 (USD0.58) today, and up 3.1 percent at HKD3.33 (USD0.42) in the Hong Kong market.

Compared with previous expos, import demand from Europe has grown steadily this year, and import demand from North America has increased 86 percent over the last expo, with Canadian suppliers making their first attendance at the Sinopec signing ceremony. Other companies involved in the deals include Kuwait National Petroleum, Marubeni Chemix, LG Chem, Burckhardt Compression, Yokogawa Electric, Asea Brown Boveri and Outokumpu.

The report did not provide the specific contract value for the individual deals.

In addition, Sinopec signed cooperation agreements with various companies. Sinopec, Shell Plc, China Baowu Steel Group and BASF Group signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in carbon dioxide capture and storage. Sinopec and ThyssenKrupp AG signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in hydrogen energy. Sinopec renewed the joint venture agreement with Honeywell International, and signed a memorandum of understanding with Deloitte and Ernst & Young Global on cooperation in strategic consulting. Sinopec Oilfield Equipment also signed service cooperation agreements with US company Serva and Turkish company SONTEK.

Zhao Dong, general manager of Sinopec, said that in recent years, Sinopec has actively promoted international trade and cooperation via the expo. Sinopec will continue to deepen and expand the mutually beneficial exchanges and win-win cooperation with its global partners, Zhao added.

Editor: Tom Litting