China’s Hengli says Singapore trade joint venture with Sinochem in voluntary liquidation

SINGAPORE – Hengli Group said on Tuesday that the privately controlled Chinese oil refiner and petrochemical manufacturer and the Sinochem Group were winding up their Singapore-based joint venture, Hengli Oilchem, due to business and strategic considerations.

Hengli Oilchem last week said it had begun a voluntary liquidation following shareholders’ decision.

“It has come to our attention that some of our customers do not fully understand the distinction between a shareholders’ voluntary liquidation and a compulsory liquidation, and thus wrongly concluded that (Hengli Oilchem) and its related companies in the Hengli Group may be in financial difficulties,” Hengli said in a statement.

“This is, of course, not true,” Hengli added.

Hengli Oilchem, 79 per cent owned by Hengli and 20 per cent by China’s state-run Sinochem, officially launched its Singapore operation in June 2018.

Sinochem did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hengli’s main trading arm is Hengli Petrochemical International.

Set up in Singapore in 2017, it trades crude oil, refined fuel and chemical products.

Back in north-east China’s port city of Dalian, Hengli operates a refinery with an output of 400,000 barrels a day and petrochemical facilities, producing 11.6 million tonnes of polyester-making feedstock PTA a year, among other things.

The group is adding a new chemicals park that makes some energy-transition products next to the refinery complex. REUTERS