After moving its headquarters from New Jersey to Houston earlier this year, PetroChina International America Inc is primed to expand its trade in oil products, and more importantly, gain a firmer footing in North America by acquiring its own refining facilities.

Since 2005, Li Shaolin, president of PCIA, had run the US operations from New Jersey, but the advantages of Houston - the "Oil Capital of the World" - were too big a draw to resist.

Li moved the headquarters there in March, taking offices at the prestigious One Briar Lake Plaza in Houston's Westchase District, adjacent to the energy corridor.