Total announced today that Chinese authorities have granted final approval for the creation of a company to be known as Total Sinochem Fuels Company, a joint venture owned 49% by Total and 51% by Sinochem. The first service stations operated under the partners’ banners are expected to open in Beijing in the autumn.

Total and Sinochem have been associated for more than 10 years in one of the country’s main refineries, located in Dalian, in the North. Their new venture aims to develop a network of 200 service stations around Beijing and Tianjin and in the Hebei and Liaoning provinces, a highly populated area with some 133 million inhabitants. Sinochem, one of China’s four oil companies, specializes in oil logistics and trading, as well as chemicals manufacturing and trading.

This investment represents a major step forward in Total’s strategy of expanding its petroleum products marketing operations, with a medium term objective of creating an integrated refining and marketing organization in Northern China. In addition to its interest in the Dalian refinery, Total is already present in the oil downstream with service stations in Wuhan (Hubei province), Elf and Total-branded lubricants, liquid petroleum gas, special fluids, petrochemicals and specialty chemicals.