By acquiring Atlantis Holding Norway AS In 2002, Sinochem started to move upward the oil industrial chain. In the same year, Sinochem Petroleum Exploration & Production Co., Ltd. was incorporated, indicating Sinochem was strategically transforming into an oil company with the integrated operations from the upstream sectors to the downstream sectors backed by strong trading and distribution network. By June 30, 2008, Sinochem had acquired 13 oil & gas contractual blocks in Tunisia, the UAE, Ecuador, Yemen and China’s Bohai Bay basin and secured 129 million bbl of the equity oil equivalent.

Since commencement of the production in November 2006, Tunisia’s Oudna offshore oilfield, which Sinochem possesses 40% of the equity interests, saw its peak output of 25,550 bpd in 2007. In 2007, Ecuador’s Block 16 achieved the best performance since operation, the whole year’s output steadily going up, the peak production reaching 70,200 bpd and the average yield at 64,153 bpd. The UAQ offshore gas field started the construction since March 2006 and was put to production in May 2008, starting to supply the gas for RAK GAS.