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PetroChina expected to surpass Exxon Mobil as most valuable company
Donald Greenlees and David Lague, International Herald Tribune
When the state oil and natural gas company PetroChina makes its debut Monday on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, China’s booming stock markets will be on the verge of another milestone. Soon after the Shanghai listing, analysts expect PetroChina to surpass the U.S. energy behemoth Exxon Mobil as the world’s largest company by market value.
PetroChina shares, already traded in New York and Hong Kong, are expected to be seized on by a market awash with cash and investors eager for new opportunities. At the close of markets Friday, PetroChina was valued at $460 billion, making it the world’s second-most-valuable company, worth about $26 billion less than Exxon Mobil.
The ebullience with which Chinese investors have dived into the markets of Shanghai and Shenzhen, unleashing the huge savings in personal bank accounts, has made China home to the world’s most expensive companies. China has the biggest bank, insurance company, telecommunications carrier and airline by market value.
By that measure, it has five of the world’s 10 largest companies.
(4 November 2007)
Related from the Guardian: PetroChina becomes world’s biggest company.
China subsidizes rural transportation, urges aid for urban poor following fuel price hike
Associated Press
China’s central government has subsidized transportation in rural areas and urged local officials to help the urban poor after it raised fuel prices by nearly 10 percent this past week, state media reported.
Those who price gouge or spread rumors about the practice will be “severely punished” in order to maintain stable prices for refined oil, and natural and liquefied gas, the Xinhua News Agency said Saturday, citing a circular from China’s top economic planning body.
Beijing raised prices of gasoline and diesel fuel by nearly 10 percent on Thursday to curb demand amid shortages that have caused long lines at filling stations and disrupted trucking in key export areas.
(4 November 2007)
China to continue raising fuel prices to correct economic distortions – PBoC
AFX
China will have to continue raising its domestic resources prices, even though the move could result in additional inflationary pressure, in order to correct the distortions in the economy caused by underpriced fuel, a senior official at the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) said.
Assistant governor Yi Gang said the Chinese government has to choose the ‘lesser evil’ — inflation — instead of allowing underpriced resources to cause a further imbalance in the economy.
‘Inflation is the lesser evil compared to distortions in the economy,’ Yi told a forum.
(4 November 2007)
Warming takes toll on water resources
Xie Chuanjiao, China Daily
China suffers from a shortfall of nearly 40 billion cubic meters of water a year, largely because of global climate change, Minister of Water Resources Chen Lei said.
“The changes have led to a combination of both frequent drought and flooding,” Chen told a high-level roundtable conference on China’s water resources and water environment protection on Saturday.
Chen said the figure was calculated on the country’s average annual water needs in recent years.
The country’s water demands are shaped by a number of factors including its massive population, a relatively small number of water resources, and disparities between relatively water rich and water poor regions.
Latest data from the ministry suggested that rainfall in northern China had decreased in recent years.
Water resources particularly in areas surrounding the Yellow River, Huaihe River, Haihe River and Liaohe River, had dropped by 12 percent.
“Seasonal water shortages in some of those areas are getting worse, seriously restricting sustainable social and economic development,” the official said.
China is attempting to balance protecting its water resources and the environment with its impressive economic growth and rate of urbanization.
(5 November 2007)
