China's business press carried the following stories on?Friday. China.org.cn has not checked the stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

CNPC to develop Iran oil field this year—21cbh.com

China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), China's largest oil producer, will start to develop an oil project in Iran this year, to expand its overseas oil supply.

The oil project, the Azadegan Oilfield, will have annual production of one million tons, equivalent to 20,000 barrels a day, CNPC said.

Located in the west of Iran, Azadegan Oilfield is the largest oil find in Iran over the last three decades, with proven reserves of 42 billion barrels.

CNPC announced on Thursday it plans to invest US$60 billion to increase its annual overseas oil and gas production to 200 million tons, equivalent to 4 million barrels a day.

Honda to boost China output by 36% over 2 years—21cbh.com

Japanese car maker Honda Motor will expand production in China by 36 percent by the end of 2012 to ride the wave of China's booming auto market.

The expansion will boost its annual output in China to 830,000 units.

Its joint venture with Guangzhou Automobile has two factories in Huangpu and Zengcheng with a combined production capacity of 360,000 units.

Honda will install a new production line in one of the joint venture's factories at a cost of more than US$108.6 million, doubling its production capacity to 240,000 units.

Apart from Honda, other Japanese auto makers including Toyota are also beefing up production in China.

Industrial Bank to raise 18 bln yuan via rights issue—sohu.com

Industrial Bank, a Fuzhou-based mid-sized lender, plans a rights issue of up to 18 billion yuan (US$2.64 billion) to replenish its capital base, the bank said on Thursday.

The bank will issue 1 billion shares, or two shares for every 10 shares held, at 18 yuan, to raise its capital adequacy ratio to more than 12 percent. At the end of last year, its capital adequacy ratio was 10.75 percent.

Credit Suisse Founder Securities, Industrial Securities and UBS Securities are main underwriters.

Following a cooling down in the real estate market, Industrial Bank, which is heavily involved in the housing market, has seen its shares fall more than 25 percent since April. The bank's share price dropped 0.71 percent to 27.83 yuan on Wednesday, and has lost 30 percent of its market value so far this year.