November 1 -- China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Association predicts that the performance of mainland China’s petroleum and chemical industries will be stable in the fourth quarter of this year, while their growth will gradually slow, report stcn.com.

The total production value of the petroleum and chemical industries is estimated to be 2.77 trillion yuan in the fourth quarter of 2011, marking a 10.6-percent year-on-year increase and a 5.7-percent month-on-month drop. The production value of China’s entire chemical industry is predicted to total around 11 trillion yuan this year, up 28 percent year-on-year.

Demand for petroleum and chemical products boomed during the first three quarters of 2011 and their prices rose. Import and export volumes also grew sharply year-on-year. Investment in the two industries was stable during that period.

Oil refining firm began to incur losses as investment in oil and gas exploration began to slip in the third quarter.