Fitch Rating: PetroChina will be the main beneficiary of natural gas price increase

Fitch Ratings issued a report on June 2 stating that China is gradually moving toward pricing in the natural gas market. “China’s recent action to increase natural gas prices paves the way for future market-based pricing mechanisms.” At the same time, Fitch Ratings stated that China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) will be the main beneficiary of natural gas price increases.


Fitch said that because CNPC has a large number of proven oil and gas reserves and an extensive natural gas pipeline network, natural gas will become the strategic focus of CNPC in the coming years as well as an important growth point for revenue and cash flow.


In addition, Fitch expects that China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) will also benefit from the increase in natural gas prices, but its proven oil and gas reserves and production are relatively small, with a relatively small degree of benefit. At the same time, this adjustment will have a relatively limited impact on China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) in the near term because the company does not have onshore natural gas reserves and mainly sells natural gas through negotiations with its customers for long-term sales contracts.


Fitch Rating PetroChina is rated 'A+' and the outlook is stable. Sinopec is rated 'A-'. Fitch believes that the impact of this price increase on the credit rating of Chinese natural gas producers is limited.


“Upgrading the domestic onshore natural gas benchmark price is part of the reform that the Chinese government has long hoped to improve the status of natural gas consumption in China.” said Ying Wang, Fitch Asia-Pacific Energy and Utilities Team Director, “This increase will be reduced in the near future. The difference between domestically produced natural gas and imported natural gas (such as LNG LNG). In the long run, it is expected that China will transfer its pricing mechanism to its onshore natural gas market."


The National Development and Reform Commission recently announced that it will increase the benchmark price for domestic onshore natural gas by 25%, or $0.95 per cubic meter (base price). At the same time, the first and second gas prices of some oil and gas fields were merged and the price “dual-track system” was cancelled, allowing both supply and demand parties to negotiate specific prices within a range of 10% of floats and downswings based on the factory benchmark price. The benchmark price was raised on June 1, 2010, which is the first time that the National Development and Reform Commission has adjusted prices in the past two and a half years.


Fitch expects that China's imported natural gas accounts for about 10% of China's total natural gas consumption in 2009, and China's natural gas demand will maintain strong growth in the next few years, with an increase of 8% to 10% per year.

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