Total, KPC team up at Chinese refinery

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PARIS, March 14 (UPI) -- French supermajor Total announced it signed a preliminary deal with a Kuwaiti counterpart to work together at a major oil refinery in China.

Total and Kuwait Petroleum Corp. signed a memorandum of understand to develop the Zhanjiang refinery and petrochemicals facility along with China Petroleum and Chemical Corp., known also as Sinopec.

"The project is in line with our strategy of expanding in growth markets, based on a few highly competitive and integrated platforms," Total Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Christophe de Margerie said in a statement.

The refinery would be configured to process crude oil from Kuwait. The Zhanjiang complex has the capacity to refine as much as 300,000 barrels of oil per day into "high-quality refined and petrochemicals products," Total said.

"This agreement will be the keystone of a long-term relationship with KPC," added de Margerie.