Sinopec to invest 30b yuan in hydrogen related business

China Petroleum and Chemical Corp, which is known as Sinopec and is the world's largest refiner by volume, plans to invest 30 billion yuan ($4.64 billion) during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) period in hydrogen related business, the company said on Monday.

The investment in the hydrogen sector, including hydrogen refueling stations and hydrogen storage facilities construction, is believed will achieve carbon dioxide reduction of more than 10 million tons, it said.

The company also plans to build 1,000 hydrogen refueling stations, 5,000 charging and battery swap stations and 7,000 distributed photovoltaic power generation sites during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. It has already built 21 hydrogen refueling stations in 14 provinces and cities, including Guangdong, Shanghai and Hainan.

Sinopec reported a 39.15 billion yuan net profit for the first six months of 2021 on Sunday, compared with a 23 billion yuan loss during January-June last year as the coronavirus pandemic walloped fuel demand and knocked oil prices.

Revenue in the first six months rose 22.1 percent from last year's low base to 1.26 trillion yuan, following a recovery in global oil prices and robust demand for fuel and petrochemical products.