PetroChina (PTR) and CNPC (PTR’s parent) may ‘spinoff’ their natural gas and crude oil pipeline business into an independent company. The system, which stretches from China’s remote borders with central Asia to major coastal cities, could be worth up to US$85 billion.
Analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein and Jefferies Group told Bloomberg of this news, stating that “while timing is unclear, there is a sense that management is in favour of such a spinoff.”
News sources have reported that PTR’s preferred option is an initial public offering that would leave it with a controlling stake.
Monetising pipeline assets would raise funds and attract investors in the current low oil price environment, Seeking Alpha reported.
As reported by Kallanish Energy: “PTR holds a 71% market share of the country’s oil and gas pipelines, analysts at Goldman Sachs wrote in a 7 March report. Its network stretches more than 48 200 miles, with almost two thirds of that mileage flowing natural gas.