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 Headquarters in Beijing | |||||||
Native name | 中国石油天然气股份有限公司 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Company type | State owned enterprise | ||||||
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| ISIN | |||||||
| Industry | Oil and gas | ||||||
| Founded | 5 November 1999; 26 years ago (1999-11-05) | ||||||
| Headquarters | Dongcheng District,Beijing China | ||||||
Area served | Worldwide with primary markets in China | ||||||
Key people | Zhou Jiping (chairman) Wang Dongjin (CEO)[1] | ||||||
| Products | Fuels,lubricants,natural gas,petrochemicals | ||||||
| Revenue |  US$297 Billion (2020)[2] | ||||||
| CN¥67,722 million (2017)[2] | |||||||
| CN¥36,793 million (2017)[2] | |||||||
| Total assets | CN¥2,404,612 million (2017)[2] | ||||||
| Total equity | CN¥1,381,319 million (2017)[2] | ||||||
Number of employees | 506,000 (2019) | ||||||
| Parent | China National Petroleum Corporation | ||||||
| Subsidiaries | Singapore Petroleum Company | ||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 中国石油天然气股份有限公司 | ||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 中國石油天然氣股份有限公司 | ||||||
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| Website | petrochina.com.cn | ||||||
PetroChina Company Limited (Chinese:中国石油天然气股份有限公司) is a Chineseoil andgas company and is the listed arm of state-ownedChina National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), headquartered inDongcheng District, Beijing.[3] The company is currently Asia's largest oil and gas producer.[4][5] Traded inHong Kong andNew York, the mainland enterprise announced its plans to issue stock inShanghai in November 2007,[5] and subsequently entered the constituent ofSSE 50 Index. In the 2020Forbes Global 2000, PetroChina was ranked as the 32nd-largest public company in the world.[6]
PetroChina was established as ajoint stock company with limited liabilities under the Company Law of the People's Republic of China (the PRC) on 5 November 1999, as part of the restructuring of CNPC. In the restructuring, CNPC injected into PetroChina most of the assets and liabilities of CNPC relating to itsexploration and production,refining and marketing, chemicals andnatural gas businesses.Because of Sinopec's link toSudan through parent companyChina Petrochemical Corporation, several institutional investors such asHarvard andYale decided, in 2005, to divest from Sinopec. Sudan divestment efforts have continued to be concentrated on PetroChina since then.[7]Fidelity Investments, after pressure from activist groups, also announced in a filing in the US that it had sold 91 per cent of itsAmerican Depositary Receipts in PetroChina in the first quarter of 2007.[8]
At the beginning of May 2007, the company announced it had made China's largest oil find in a decade off the country's northeast coast, in an oilfield namedJidong Nanpu oil field inBohai Bay.[9] In May 2008 these expectations were lowered.[10]
On 7 November 2007, Hang Seng Indexes Company announced that PetroChina would be aHang Seng Index Constituent Stock, effective 10 December 2007.[11] PetroChina also came under scrutiny from international organizations for its part in trading with the Sudanese government as it undertook thewar in Darfur.
On 19 August 2009, PetroChina signed an A$50 billion deal withExxonMobil to purchase liquefied natural gas from the Gorgon field in Western Australia,[12][13] considered the largest contract ever signed between China and Australia, which ensures China a steady supply ofLNG fuel for 20 years, and also forms as China's largest supply of relatively "clean energy".[14][15] This deal has been formally secured, despiterelations between Australia and China being at their lowest point in years, following theRio Tinto espionage case and thegranting of visas toRebiya Kadeer to visit Australia.[16]
PetroChina'sDushanzi District refinery became fully operational on 24 September 2009. The refinery is China's largest refinery with annual capacity of 10 million tons of oil and 1 million tons of ethylene. The refinery is an integral part of China's ambitions to import oil fromKazakhstan.[17]
In February 2011, PetroChina agreed to pay $5.4 billion for a 49% stake in Canada'sDuvernay shale assets owned byEncana. It was China's biggest investment inshale gas to date.[18] PetroChina's subsidiary in Canada is named PetroChina Canada and has an office inCalgary. It operates under the direction of Li Zhiming.[19]
China signed a deal in 2016 with theNepal Oil Corporation to sell 30% of the totalNepalese petroleum consumption. China plans to build a pipeline to Nepal'sPanchkhal along with a storage depot.[20]
In 2017, the shares of PetroChina upped after the rise of natural gas prices for commercial use.[21]
In February 2019, as part of the Arrow Energy joint venture withRoyal Dutch Shell, the company was granted leases for $10 billion (AUS) towards the Surat project in Queensland, Australia.[22] Liaoyang Petrochemical Corp, a unit of PetroChina, in May 2019 exported to Europe for the first time.[23] PetroChina posted a US$4 billion profit for 2019.[24] In 2023, PetroChina received the equivalent of US$343 million in statesubsidies.[25]
PetroChina was allowed to accelerate its renewable energy business in 2022, installing 5.36 gigawatts of wind and solar power plants and 11.2 million square meters of geothermal projects during the first half of the year. This came after the company posted a 55.3 percent year-on-year increase in interim earnings.[26]
PetroChina Pipelines is a subsidiary (72.26%) of PetroChina that managed the first three pipelines of the project.[27]
The construction of the West–East Gas Pipeline started in 2002. The pipeline was put into trial operation on 1 October 2004, and the full commercial supply of natural gas commenced on 1 January 2005. The pipeline is owned and operated by PetroChina West–East Gas Pipeline Company, a subsidiary of PetroChina. Originally, it was agreed that PetroChina would have owned 50% of the pipeline, whileRoyal Dutch Shell,Gazprom, andExxonMobil had been slated to hold 15% each, andSinopec 5%. However, in August 2004, the Board of Directors of PetroChina announced that following good faith discussions with all parties to the Joint Venture Framework Agreement, the parties had not been able to reach an agreement, and the joint venture framework agreement was terminated.[28]
The 4,000 kilometres (2,500 mi) long pipeline runs fromLunnan inXinjiang toShanghai.[29] The pipeline passes through 66 cities in the 10 provinces in China.[30] Natural gas transported by the pipeline is used for electricity production in the Yangtze River Delta area.The capacity of the pipeline is 12 billion cubic metres (420 billion cubic feet) of natural gas annually.[31] The cost of the pipeline was US$5.7 billion. By the end of 2007, the capacity was planned to be upgraded to 17 billion cubic metres (600 billion cubic feet). For this purpose, ten new gas compressor stations will be built and eight existing stations are to be upgraded.[32]
The West–East Gas Pipeline is connected to theShaan-Jing pipeline by three branch pipelines.[33] The 886 kilometres (551 mi) long Ji-Ning branch between the Qingshan Distributing Station and theAnping Distributing Station became operational on 30 December 2005.
The pipeline is supplied from theTarim Basin oil and gas fields in Xinjiang province. TheChangqing gas area inShaanxi province is a secondary gas source. In the future, the plannedKazakhstan-China gas pipeline will be connected to the West–East Gas Pipeline.
Starting from 15 September 2009, the pipeline is also supplied withcoalbed methane from the Qinshui Basin inShanxi.[34]
Construction of the second West–East Gas Pipeline started on 22 February 2008. The pipeline with a total length of 9,102 kilometres (5,656 mi), including 4,843 kilometres (3,009 mi) of the main line and eight sub-lines, will run fromKhorgas in northwestern Xinjiang toGuangzhou inGuangdong. Up toGansu, it will be parallel and interconnected with the first west–east pipeline. The western part of the pipeline is expected to be commissioned by 2009, and the eastern part by June 2011.[35]
The capacity of the second pipeline is 30 billion cubic metres (1.1 trillion cubic feet) of natural gas per year. It is mainly supplied by theCentral Asia-China gas pipeline. The pipeline is expected to cost US$20 billion.[35][36] The project is developed by China National Oil and Gas Exploration and Development Corp. (CNODC), a joint venture ofChina National Petroleum Corporation and PetroChina.[37]
Construction of the third pipeline started in October 2012 and it is to be completed by 2015. The third pipeline will run from Horgos in western Xinjiang toFuzhou inFujian.[38] It will cross Xinjiang, Gansu, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Fujian, and Guangdong provinces.
The total length of the third pipeline is 7,378 kilometres (4,584 mi), including 5,220-kilometre (3,240 mi) trunkline and eight branches. In addition, the project includes three gas storages and aLNG plant. It will have a capacity of 30 billion cubic metres (1.1 trillion cubic feet) of natural gas per year with operating pressure of 10–12 megapascals (1,500–1,700 psi). The pipeline will be supplied from Central Asia–China gas pipeline's Line C supplemented by supplies from the Tarim basin and coalbed methane in Xinjiang. Compressors for the pipeline are supplied byRolls-Royce.[39]
In November 2005, one of PetroChina's chemical plants exploded inJilin, China, resulting in 100 tons ofbenzene, which is a carcinogen and toxic, pouring into theSonghua River. There was a slick of chemicals that spanned 80 kilometres.[40]Harbin, which is another city along theSonghua River, had to cut the water supply from almost 4 million people, for 5 days. More than 60 people were injured, five died, and one person was missing due to the incident. The spill reached as far asKhabarovsk, Russia, where residents stocked up on bottled water. The Russian city tried filtering its water of toxic substances, but could not guarantee the water was safe.[41]China's environmental agency fined the company one million yuan (approximately $125,000, £64,000) for its pollution, which was the maximum fine that can be handed out in China for breaking an environmental law.[40] The Chinese government said that cleaning up the aftermath would require one billion US dollars.[40]Li Zhaoxing, Chinese Foreign Minister at the time, issued a public apology to Russia due to the incident.[42] The Chinese press responded harshly to the authorities' response to the disaster.[43]
In 2014, Petrochina's subsidiary Lanzhou Petrochemical was responsible for ethylene and ammonia leaks, benzene contamination of water supplies, and air pollution inLanzhou. City officials criticized the company and demanded an apology.[44]
PetroChina's development of gas reserves inTarim Basin,Xinjiang has been the subject of controversy, as such a project could pose a threat to the environment.[45][46]
In 2008, PetroChina began constructing a $5.5 billion petrochemical plant, expected to produce 800,000 tons ofethylene and refine 10 million tons of crude oil a year, inChengdu, China. Although PetroChina claimed that $565 million of the total investment would be dedicated to environmental protection, residents of Chengdu believed it might bring pollution to the local area and took to the streets on 3 and 4 May 2008, to protest the petrochemical plant. The whole demonstration was peaceful, with little Chinese government intervention.[47]
On 19 January 2022, Chinese authorities punished PetroChina's subsidiary "PetroChina Fuel Oil Co Ltd" for alleged oil trade inconsistencies that "severely disrupted oil products market order... facilitated blind development of outdated production capacity at independent refineries...caused losses in government tax revenue indirectly," said the National Development and Reform Commission.[48]
In 2011,Earthrights International accused PetroChina of complicity in serious human rights abuses inBurma,[49][50] a country known for militarily furthering its economic interests through the use of forced labor.[51][52]
In September 2013,Jiang Jiemin, a former chairman of PetroChina, was abruptly removed from his role as director of theState-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council and investigated for corruption and abuse of power, along with four other senior oil executives.[53]Jiang was considered an ally of corrupt former security chiefZhou Yongkang, and part of a group of officials that had political ties with Zhou. On 12 October 2015, the court foundJiang guilty on all counts, including accepting bribes, possessing dark assets, and abusing his power. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison.[54]
In January 2017, former vice chairmanLiao Yongyuan was sentenced to 15 years in prison for abuse of power and accepting nearly $2 million worth of bribes.[55][56]
In October 2021, theCentral Commission for Discipline Inspection announced that it was investigating former vice president Ling Xiao, for “serious disciplinary violations”.[57]
In January 2014, theInternational Consortium of Investigative Journalists published research based on leaked financial records from theBritish Virgin Islands, implicatingCNPC, PetroChina,Sinopec, andCNOOC in offshore tax evasion.[58][59]
PetroChina was ranked 30th in 2018Forbes Global 2000,[60] a list of top listed companies of the world. In 2019, PetroChina was ranked 22nd inForbes Global 2000.[61] In 2023, PetroChina was ranked #18 in Forbes' Global 2000 (World's Largest Public Companies).[62]
PetroChina, on 24 October 2008 issued a series of medium-term corporate bonds worth 80 billion yuan ($11.7 billion), which was the biggest ever domestic issue by a listed company.
The logo of PetroChina has represented the company in plenary capacity since 2004. The logo's basic, abecedarian design consists of a rising sun, projected onto a petal-based graphic. The colors utilized in the graphic are red and yellow,auspicious in Chinese culture. Beneath the English-language version of the design is positioned the company's name in an emboldened, black typeset, "PetroChina" (Chinese:中国石油;pinyin:Zhōngguó shíyóu).
PetroChina's current logo was adopted 26 December 2004. The contour of the logo is defined as a "petal graphic equally divided by ten in red and yellow colors", which, according to description, "are the basic colors of the national flag of thePeople's Republic of China, and which embody the characteristics of the oil and gas industry". The essentially spherical design of the logo, meant to exemplify PetroChina's global development stratagem. The ten equanimous petals are indicative of PetroChina's ten consolidated core businesses. The red substratum is intended to highlight "an angle of a square shape, not only demonstrating PetroChina's strong fundamentals, but also implicating the company's huge power of cohesion and creativity". The general floral connotations of the logo are designed to capture PetroChina's "social responsibility of creating harmony between energy and environment". Finally, the sun ascending over the horizon in the center of the logo epitomizes the prosperous future hoped to lie within the future of PetroChina.[63]
