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CNPC plans $1b dollar bond issue

By Xiao Wan (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-04-21 08:02

China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) is planning to issue a $1 billion three-year floating-rate bond in the interbank market soon, the country's first dollar-denominated issue by a non-financial institution in China's interbank market.

Related readings:  CNPC to invest in coalbed methane  CNPC crude output seen lower in 2009 as demand weakens  China approves more corporate bond issuance in Q1  Enterprise bond issuance to expand

The country's largest oil and gas producer has registered dollar-denominated bill issuances of up to $3 billion with the National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors (NAFMII), Reuters reported yesterday, citing unnamed sources.

Once the registration process with the industry association has been completed, issuance in the interbank market will start very soon, one source told Reuters.

A spokesman for CNPC yesterday declined to comment on the report.

A China National Petroleum Corp oil pump near a PetroChina gas station board displaying gas prices in Daqing, Heilongjiang province. [Bloomberg News]

Lin Boqiang, director of the Center for Energy Economic Research of China at Xiamen University, said CNPC would mainly use the bond proceeds for some overseas acquisitions.

"The timing is good for the company to buy some overseas assets, as the price is relatively low," said Lin.

Jiang Jiemin, general manager of CNPC, earlier said that the company is eyeing some oil and gas assets, which had been made vulnerable by the global financial crisis.

"The size of a $1-billion bond is not very big for a company like CNPC, but it has to be very cautious in making overseas acquisitions," Lin said.

CNPC last Friday said it had signed an agreement with Kazakh state oil company for a joint purchase of MangistauMunaiGas, a major oil developer in Kazakhstan. With many other deals signed or under negotiation, the company has accelerated its pace in overseas development.

By the end of 2008, CNPC had expanded its oil and gas businesses to 29 countries. A total of 75 cooperative projects are underway in these countries, with five oil and gas cooperative zones being built in Central Asia, Africa, South America, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region, sources with the company told China Daily earlier.

As the world's second largest oil consumer, China is considering setting up a fund to support domestic oil firms in their pursuit of foreign mergers and acquisitions, according to a three-year plan for China's oil and gas industry made by the National Energy Administration.

The plan was submitted at the National Work Conference on Energy held in Beijing earlier in February.

Yu Baocai, an executive with CNPC, earlier said the company expects its crude output this year to fall below the 2008 level due to weak demand.