SINGAPORE - China's Hengli Petrochemical is setting up a trading office ‍in Dubai, ‍as it expands its network from Singapore, parent ​company Hengli Group said on Friday.

The new office in ⁠Dubai, a hub for oil trading in the Middle East, ⁠will give Hengli ‌more flexibility in allocating resources and broaden its market coverage, Hengli Group told Reuters ⁠in a text message.

Li Maohong will be managing the office, Hengli Group added.

Li has been the head of Hengli Singapore's proprietary trading since 2025, ⁠according to his ​LinkedIn profile. He was a senior oil trader previously with state-run Sinochem, ‍and set up Hengli Petrochemical International in Singapore in 2018.

An ​industry source with knowledge of the expansion said the new office will start with about five trading and supporting roles.

The office will be trading oil and petrochemicals, another source familiar with the development said.

Having offices in Singapore and Dubai is a common practice among Asian energy and chemical companies seeking closer proximity to Middle ⁠Eastern producers and European end-users.

Chinese ‌conglomerate Hengli, headquartered in eastern Jiangsu province, operates a 400,000-barrel-per-day refinery and petrochemical complex in the northeast ‌port city ⁠of Dalian.

(Reporting by Chen Aizhu, Siyi Liu and Florence ⁠Tan in Singapore; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair)