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SHANGHAI: Asia's top oil refiner Sinopec pledged to halt gasoline exports in the third quarter to cope with extra domestic demand caused by earthquake relief needs, it said in a statement on Wednesday.
The announcement came over two weeks after the deadly 8.0-magnitude quake struck southwest China's Sichuan province, leaving at least 67,000 dead.
"Sinopec will raise output, adjust the structure of its products and suspend exports to guarantee demand for reconstruction efforts after the earthquake, the summer harvest and the Beijing Olympics," the statement said, quoting Wang Tianpu, Sinopec's president.
"Disaster relief is one of our top priorities... Sinopec will conform with the official policy to keep the prices of oil products in earthquake-hit zone stable," the statement said.
Sinopec had made emergency deliveries of diesel and petrol to Sichuan and nearby regions after the earthquake. It also ordered several refineries to raise output, the official Xinhua news agency reported earlier.
The domestic supply of refined oil has been affected by the international crude price hike, peaking at over 135 US dollars per barrel last week.
Sinopec slipped 0.08 percent to 12.23 yuan on Wednesday morning, extending 4.45 percent losses in the previous session. Analysts said the suspension is a further blow to its earnings.
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