State oil companies China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., or Sinopec, and China National Petroleum Corp. over the weekend said they would boost supplies of oil products to central Sichuan province, following a major earthquake Saturday morning that resulted in the deaths of more than 100 people.
Sinopec said on its website on Monday that it was providing free fuel to emergency services involved in the rescue and recovery effort. It sent an additional 60,000 liters of oil products to Ya'an city -- where Lushan county, the epicenter of the quake, is located. It also set up nine extra service stations to distribute the fuel.
The company said it is sending 1,650 mt of gasoline and 3,800 mt of gasoil to boost its inventories in the Dongshan area while Sichuan's capital Chengdu will get an extra 12,700 mt of gasoline and 11,900 mt of gasoil stocks.
It also sent 2,074 mt of jet/kerosene from its Luoyang refinery in Henan province to the Shuangliu and Mianyang airports in Sichuan to boost supplies.
Sinopec said its Puguang subsidiary, which is based in Sichuan province and operates the giant Puguang gas field, has been actively involved in providing aid and other emergency services to those affected.
CNPC pledged its efforts in ensuring that there would be sufficient oil supplies to the area and said it had sent 2,000 mt of fuel to Ya'an. The company said it was continuing to work with the National Development and Reform Commission and other government agencies to help in the disaster.
A total of 186 people have been confirmed dead in the 7.0-magnitude earthquake so far, according to the local government, Xinhua news agency reported Sunday. More than 1.5 million people have been affected.
