(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-11-20 11:11

China Petrochemical Corporation, better known as Sinopec Group, is planning to boost output and imports amid efforts to stabilize the domestic oil supplies.

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The oil giant has ordered subsidiaries to work on their full capacities to refine 42 million tons of crude oil in the fourth quarter and also to refine 200,000 tons more as scheduled in December .

To achieve this, Sinopec Group has ordered five refining subsidiaries to halt facilities maintenance on the precondition of safety, a source with the company said.

The group's oil output for October was 198,000 tons more than the target and it planned to raise diesel production for November by cutting aviation fuel output by 80,000 tons.

Despite losses making, Sinopec will continue to import 200,000 tons of diesel in December after it imports 277,000 tons of refined oil this month.

The oil firm halted imports of refined oil this September and October as the domestic oil prices were lower than the import prices.

Quite a number of oil filling stations across the country are suffering from supply shortages. Experts believed the government should reform the oil pricing mechanism to reflect the international oil price hikes in a bid to give a boost to the oil giants.