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CNPC boosts oil reserves abroad
By Wang Ying
Updated: 2005-10-14 08:34
CNPC (Hong Kong), a Hong Kong-listed unit of China's largest oil producer
China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) will pay US$140 million to increase its
stake in a venture with interests in three oil fields in Kazakhstan.
The Hong Kong-listed subsidiary said it is buying an additional 20 per cent
of CNPC International (Caspian) Ltd from Darley Investment Services Inc,
increasing its share to 60 per cent. The remaining stakes will be directly owned
by Beijing-based CNPC, said a CNPC (Hong Kong) Ltd statement, which is 52.9 per
cent controlled by its parent company CNPC. Darley thus, will hold no interest
in CNPC International (Caspian) Ltd.
The deal, scheduled to be complete by today, will boost CNPC's oil reserves
abroad. The move aims to meet the soaring energy demand from China and is in
line with the objective of becoming "an international petroleum company that
offers a diversified range of petroleum operations in various countries," the
company statement said.
The Kazakhstan venture that CNPC is buying owns 25.12 per cent shares of
three oilfields in Aktobe, which has a production capacity of 17,500 tons of
crude oil per day.
The acquisition will be funded by a six-month bank loan of US$120 million
secured on Monday, with the remainder coming from internal resources, CNPC (Hong
Kong) said.
CNPC (Hong Kong), which holds assets in Southeast China and South America,
bought its initial 40 per cent stake in the Kazak oil venture in December 2003
from CNPC International for US$11 million.
It had a net income of HK$611 million (US$79 million) in the first half of
this year, an increase of 44 per cent from last year.
China's oil big players, in order to secure reserves for growing oil demand
from the domestic market, are acting vigorously to tap overseas assets.
The Beijing-based oil conglomerate in August reached an agreement with
PetroKazakhstan Inc to buy the Canadian-registered company for US$4.18 billion,
a move that would now be opposed by political quarters in Kazakhstan, whose
parliament has passed a bill allowing the state to intervene in the sale of
foreign-held stakes in oil companies.
Kazakhstan boasted 3.3 per cent of the world's oil reserves at the end of
2004, as stated in the BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2005. The central
Asian country produced 1.3 million barrels of oil daily last year, and plans to
triple oil output by 2015.
CNPC (Hong Kong) shares yesterday fell 0.617 per cent to HK$1.61 (19.9 US
cents).
(China Daily 10/14/2005 page10)
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