Big money for power  

New investment into China's power sector totalling 580 billion yuan (US$85.3 billion) was announced at the national energy working conference held on 3 February. The investment will enable the country to build new nuclear and wind power plants. Nuclear power plants with a combined capacity of 8.4 gigawatts have been scheduled to be built in 2009. Several wind power farms, each with 
a planned capacity of over 10 gigawatts, will be built in the northwestern provinces of Gansu and Inner Mongolia, and eastern provinces of Hebei and Jiangsu over the next 10 years. 

Plans to build eight new oil reserve bases to further boost China's ability to store imported oil were also announced. Four reserve bases, with a combined capacity of 140 million tonnes, were built last year, meaning that the nation can already store up to 30 days worth of oil. 

CNOOC merges local chemical firm  

According to local media, China's third largest petrochemical company, the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), has fought off fierce competition from Sinopec and Petrochina to acquire hydrocarbon and refining firm Hbon Chemical Co in Zhejiang Province. CNOOC is yet to confirm the news and no financial details have been announced. The merger will help CNOOC to close the gap between itself and Sinopec in the most prosperous Chinese province of Zhejiang. 

Hbon's refining capabilities have proved pivotal to eastern China, but dramatic oil price fluctuations caused the company to lose billions of yuan last year. Its 2.4 million tonne heavy oil pyrolysis facility, 250 000 tonne aromatic hydrocarbon production facility and 1.7 million tonne oil refining facilities made it an attractive target for CNOOC, Sinopec and Petrochina.

Novozymes allies in bioethanol research  

Danish industrial enzyme maker Novozymes has formed an alliance with Cofco, China's largest food and biofuel producer, and Sinopec, the world's third largest oil company, to develop bioethanol from agricultural waste. 

Sinopec and Cofco will build a large demonstration bioethanol plant that will use Novozymes' enzyme technologies to turn waste corn stover into bioethanol. The companies did not reveal how much would be invested in the project or the capacity of the bioethanol plant. Steen Riisgaard, Novozymes' chief executive, believes the development of sustainable bioethanol in China is the first step towards a world that is not dependent upon diminishing oil reserves.

The new agreement builds on an existing collaboration between Cofco and Novozymes in which they have been using a 500 tonne pilot plant to develop more efficient bioethanol production techniques .