PetroChina plans to raise funds

• Source: cctv
• [09:19 May 08 2009]
• Comments

PetroChina Co, the world's second-largest company by market value, said it needs to raise 150 billion yuan in funds this year because tax payments may rise and cash flow has diminished.

Free cash flow declined by 76.9 billion yuan last year because of tax payments and investments, the company said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The oil producer had negative free cash flow of 44.9 billion yuan in 2008, according to the statement.

PetroChina plans to pay as much as $1.4 billion for a stake in a Kazakh oil company, Chairman Jiang Jiemin said on April 16.

Its parent China National Petroleum Corp plans to sell as much as $3 billion of bonds and may start issuing notes within two months, an industry association said on April 27.

"PetroChina still has a very healthy financial position as its debt-to-asset ratio is low," Grace Liu, an oil analyst at Guotai Junan Securities Hong Kong Ltd, said by telephone from Shenzhen. "It won't be hard for them to borrow from banks."

(China Daily)