Washed It!

State-controlled PetroChina Co. briefly overtook Exxon Mobil Corp. as the world’s most valuable company yesterday after its Shanghai-traded shares rose as much as 3 per cent to 13.25 yuan ($1.94 U.S.) for a market value exceeding $336-billion, surpassing Exxon’s $335.9-billion as of May 22. Over the weekend, Asia’s largest oil and gas producer PetroChina announced it will acquire a 45.5 per cent stake in Singapore Petroleum Company (SPC) for $1.02-billion. The acquisition, the first for PetroChina in an overseas downstream asset, will be a boost to the company’s trading and supply chain in the region. PetroChina’s main markets include Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, China and South Korea.

SHARES ON A ROLL

PetroChina shares have advanced 29 per cent this year as government spending has increased fuel consumption in China, while the worst recession since the Great Depression curbs demand in the United States. China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite Index has surged 43 per cent this year on optimism that the $586-billion economic stimulus and record bank lending will counter a slump in exports and boost growth. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index has dropped 1.8 per cent.

BIG PLAYER IN ASIA

PetroChina’s trading arm, Chinaoil, is involved in trading of both crude oil, light distillates, middle distillates and fuel oil. In Asia, it has branches in Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Vietnam and Indonesia. .

SEEKING OPPORTUNITIES

PetroChina is due to finalize a deal by July 1 to buy a 49 per cent stake in Nippon Oil’s 115,000-bpd Osaka refinery, building on long-term co-operation. It also has a 35 per cent stake in Singapore’s 2.3 million cubic metres Universal Terminal, which started operations early last year.

REFINERY EXPANSIONS

PetroChina and its smaller rival China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., or Sinopec, have announced plans to expand refining capacity to meet demand for fuels in the world’s third-largest economy.

China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), PetroChina’s state-owned parent, plans to build a 55 billion-yuan refinery in southern Guangdong province with Venezuela, the Guangzhou Daily reported in March.

CNPC and Russia’s OAO Rosneft may start building a 21.1 billion-yuan refinery in the northern port city of Tianjin next year, the local government said in March.

PetroChina last month agreed to buy a 50 per cent share in AO Mangistaumunaigas through its CNPC Exploration & Development Co. unit for as much as $1.4-billion after China agreed to lend $10-billion to Kazakhstan, the largest energy producer in the former Soviet Union after Russia.