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9. Sinopec
Rank: 9 (Previous rank: 16)
CEO: Su Shulin Employees: 639,690 Address: 22 Chaoyangmen N. St. Beijing, 100728 Country: China Website: www.sinopec.com The China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., known as Sinopec, was hammered by high oil prices in 2008. Earnings fell by 53%. Sound odd? Sinopec is Asia's biggest refiner of oil, and supplies 80% of China's fuel. So a rise in oil prices makes it costlier for Sinopec to buy oil before converting it to fuel. Expect that to change in 2009. Since the 1950s, Chinese government rules have prevented Sinopec and other refiners from boosting the price of fuel when oil spikes in an effort to combat inflation. New rules started Jan. 1 call for a market-based system to determine pricing. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Industry: Petroleum Refining
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| Company | 2008 Number of Employees |
|---|---|
| Wal-Mart Stores | 2,100,000 |
| China National Petroleum | 1,618,393 |
| State Grid | 1,537,000 |
| Company | 2008 Profits ($ millions) |
|---|---|
| Exxon Mobil | $45,220 |
| Gazprom | $29,864 |
| Royal Dutch Shell | $26,277 |
FAQ and methodology
All companies on the list must publish financial data and report part or all of their figures to a government agency. In the U.S., private companies and cooperatives... More
