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PetroChina denies share offer rumors

By Ding Qi (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-08-26 18:01

PetroChina, the nation's leading oil producer, has denied rumors that it was seeking $11.8 billion worth of share offers to finance an acquisition deal, the China Securities Journal reported on Tuesday.

The denial may help to ease investors' worries about massive fund raising in the weak capital market, dealers said.

A Dow Jones newswires report said yesterday that PetroChina was planning to buy 50 percent stake of China National Oil & Gas Exploration and Development Co (CNODC) from parent company China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). The deal is estimated worth $11.8 billion.

PetroChina favors issuing additional A shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange to finance the mega deal, according to the report.

An unnamed spokesman from PetroChina told today's China Securities Journal that the share offer rumor is completely groundless.

"I have never heard about such news and don't know where it came from," said a spokesman. He also reminded investors to guard against similar rumors in the market.

PetroChina currently holds a 50 percent stake in CNODC. In March this year, Jiang Jieming, board chairman of PetroChina, said the company had begun preparatory work to acquire the rest of the 50 percent stake in CNODC. However, he stressed that since PetroChina has ample cash flow, it didn't need to raise additional funds for the acquisition.

As of last year-end, CNODC had been operating 71 oil and gas investment projects in 26 countries. It had an annual output of 62 million tons of oil and six billion cubic meters of natural gas. The share acquisition, if completed, will add more overseas oil and gas resources to PetroChina.

However, according to securities insiders, given the current weak performance of the stock market, a large scale share offer may cause further stock fluctuations and is not a good choice for PetroChina.

An unnamed market watcher told the paper that the share offer rumor may come from those who intend to suppress PetroChina's share price in order to buy cheaper.

Shares of PetroChina closed 1.76 percent lower today at 13.37 yuan, more than two thirds lower than its historic debut last November. The company is scheduled to disclose half-year results on Thursday.