The government aims to have PipeChina operating by end-September.The new company will take on the pipelines, storage facilities and natural gas receiving terminals operated by behemoths China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (Sinopec Group) and China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC).PetroChina , a listed arm of CNPC, said on Thursday it will spin off pipeline and storage facilities, a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Shenzhen and ancillary facilities for 268.7 billion yuan, above book value of 223 billion yuan. The deal includes around $120 billion yuan in cash.The sale excludes the assets of Kunlun Energy, in which PetroChina has a 54.4% stake, it said. Kunlun owns gas pipelines linking the northwestern province of Shaanxi and China's capital Beijing.PetroChina said it expected to book a gain of 45.82 billion yuan on the asset disposal, which it will use to pay dividend and for capital expenditure. That compares to a book value of 86.4 billion yuan.After the deals, expected to be completed before Sept. 30. PetroChina and Sinopec will hold 29.9% and 14%, respectively, of PipeChina, whose market cap is 500 billion yuan.CNOOC Gas and Power, a subsidiary of China's top offshore oil and gas producer CNOOC Group, will own 2.9% of PipeChina.

Source: Economic Times July 24, 2020 06:36 UTC