MARCH 30: Sinopec said it had received a government subsidy of 4.9 billion yuan for 2007 and 7.4 billion yuan for the first quarter of this year to cover refining losses.

April 15: The Ministry of Finance said it will refund the 17-percent value added tax on up to 1 million tons of gasoline and 2.5 million tons of diesel to be imported during the second quarter by Sinopec's parent China Petrochemical Corp and PetroChina parent CNPC.

April 19: Sinopec and PetroChina said starting April 1 they would be paid an "appropriate" state subsidy on monthly basis - a 75-percent cut of the 17-percent value added tax they paid on crude imports, according to analysts.

April 24: Hu Weiping, oil and gas director of NDRC's energy bureau, said the US$40 a barrel trigger level for the upstream tax levy should be raised as early as this year, but the Ministry of Finance has the final say.