2010-07-22 16:01

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, the nation's second-largest oil producer, said it shut some oil wells in southern China because of flooding.

The impact on the company's oilfields is "limited" so far, Huang Wensheng, spokesman of the company known as Sinopec, said by telephone today, declining to specify the number of wells that were closed.

Increased rainfall since July 1 has affected about 38 million people and forced the relocation of 1.3 million in 11 Chinese provinces, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said July 16. Sinopec's parent China Petrochemical Corp said that more than 100 of its unit's oil wells in Jiangsu province have been inundated by floodwaters in central China.

Shengli field in Shandong province, the company's largest, is largely unaffected, Huang said. The company has taken precautionary measures to cope with the bad weather, he said, without elaborating.

PetroChina Co hasn't seen any "noticeable" impact from floods and typhoons on its oilfields and refineries, Mao Zefeng, spokesman of the nation's largest oil producer, said by telephone. The company's fields and refineries are operating normally, according to Mao.

Cnooc Ltd's spokesman, Jiang Yongzhi, couldn't immediately comment when contacted by Bloomberg News.