【2026 Industry Trends】Sinopec Accelerates Transformation of Gas Stations
Thread Content
With the wave of the energy revolution and profound adjustments in the industrial structure, China’s energy market has undergone significant changes during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, presenting both challenges and opportunities. “Marketing should be treated as a vital project, with every effort being made to improve efficiency and effectiveness. ”Faced with the situation where market demand far exceeded expectations, the Party leadership group of the group company planned in advance and took proactive actions, aiming to seek growth and efficiency from the market as well as ensure survival and development. “During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Sinopec will accelerate its efforts to become a comprehensive energy service provider offering oil, gas, hydrogen, electricity, and related services. By adopting a determined approach and fostering a strong sense of competition, it will continue to enhance its core market competitiveness and pursue an aggressive strategy in the market.
Facing a complex market environment, Sinopec makes full use of its advantages in terms of high-quality and sufficient quantities of petroleum products, a network presence in both urban and rural areas, and the brand strength associated with being a major national enterprise. It focuses on developing the Aipao brand, expands partnerships for event-based marketing, seeks growth in the oil and gas market, and goes all out to increase sales, expand its market presence, and achieve better results.
“During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Sinopec’s market share in the refined oil sector remained around 50%, thereby ensuring stability in its financial performance and demonstrating clearly Sinopec’s commitment to safeguarding energy security.
By vigorously developing its natural gas business, Sinopec has seized the market opportunity presented by the rapid growth of LNG trucks; it continues to optimize its network structure and accelerate the establishment of LNG distribution points. “During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the annual growth rate of LNG retail sales was 56.7%, covering the entire volume of diesel retail substitution.
While strengthening the domestic market, the sales company is expanding its international presence. “During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the company will have 16 branches overseas, with simultaneous development in refined oil retail, EasyJet-related services, and new energy businesses, leading to a steady improvement in the quality of its international operations.
In February 2025, Sinopec’s first overseas hydrogen station was built and put into operation in Hong Kong, contributing a \"petrochemical solution\" to Hong Kong’s energy transition”； New overseas brand petrol stations and EasyJet convenience stores are being established one after another in countries such as Laos ； Carry out entrusted processing and sales of oil with exploration rights in Kazakhstan to achieve integration between upstream and downstream operations ； Obtained a Singapore ship fueling license and completed the first LNG ship-to-ship refueling operation ； Make full use of the geographical advantages of Yunnan, Guangxi, and Xinjiang to develop border trade activities.
From Southeast Asia to Australia, from aviation fuel refueling to border trade, the brand influence of Sinopec continues to grow in the global energy market.
With the rapid development of the new energy industry, Sinopec adheres to innovation while staying true to its core principles, fully committing itself to new areas of business. It vigorously develops services such as charging and hydrogen refueling, striving to create growth drivers for the future.
Accelerating the development of a unified national charging network, Sinopec has developed its own charging operation platform; currently, it ranks eighth in the country in terms of the number of charging stations, sixth in terms of monthly charging volume, and third in terms of the average daily charging volume per station. By the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan period, there will be over 140,000 charging terminals, and the platform’s charging volume will exceed 5 billion kWh by 2025. By integrating into the “Ten Thousand Stations in the Light” initiative, we actively explore commercial innovation models such as those related to light, storage, charging, and inspection, as well as source-grid-load-storage systems. “During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, sales companies built a total of 7,000 distributed photovoltaic power stations, with an installed capacity of 266 megawatts; by 2025, the electricity generated will exceed 190 million kWh.
Aiming to become the “number one hydrogen energy company in China,” Sinopec has built 150 hydrogen refueling stations and established 8 hydrogen energy corridors. News reports on these corridors have appeared frequently in mainstream media outlets such as CCTV and Xinhua News Agency, and the model used for their development was recognized as a model case of comprehensive green transformation in the petroleum and chemical industry for the year 2025.
Sinopec actively participates in the development of all aspects related to hydrogen production, supply, storage, and distribution. Its sales companies have undertaken 8 research projects at the ** level in the field of hydrogen-based transportation. They have successfully built several demonstration projects, including China’s first hydrogen refueling station that utilizes high-pressure hydrogen storage technology – the Banshan Ring Road Station in Chongqing; the first integrated hydrogen refueling station that produces hydrogen from methanol – the Shenggang Comprehensive Energy Station in Dalian, Liaoning; and the first integrated hydrogen refueling station that produces hydrogen through ammonia decomposition – the Zhenxing Comprehensive Energy Station in Nanning, Guangxi. Additionally, they organized the release of China’s first industry standard titled “Technical Guidelines for Integrated Hydrogen Production and Refueling Stations,” thereby filling a gap in the domestic standards framework for hydrogen applications and fostering new business models, technologies, and drivers for the sustainable development of hydrogen-related industries.