PetroChina bets big on international alliances

PetroChina, Asia’s biggest company by market value, pledged to step up acquisitions and boost cooperation with global oil companies after profit growth slumped because of state controls on fuel prices at home. “PetroChina will continue to expand globally,” President Zhou Jiping said at an earnings briefing in Hong Kong. “We will boost profitability at existing projects and seek new opportunities around existing ventures in Central Asia, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas and the Asia-Pacific, he said. The oil producer and refiner plans to spend at least US$60 billion in the next decade on overseas takeovers after paying about US$6.2 billion in the past year for refineries and reserves from Australia to Canada. (August 30, 2010)