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China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) plans to list its fertilizer unit in Hong Kong, a move that could raise US$400 million.

 

A senior CNOOC official, who declined to be named, yesterday confirmed the initial public offering (IPO) would take place, but declined to say when it would happen.

 

CNOOC, the country's biggest offshore oil producer and also the parent company of overseas-listed CNOOC Limited, earlier said it planned to list a chemicals unit in Hong Kong within the year.

 

The proceeds from the fertilizer unit's listing will be used to expand the company's fertilizer and bitumen operations.

 

The Hong Kong-based Standard newspaper yesterday reported that CNOOC would sell 25 percent of its fertilizer unit through an IPO by the end of June, without identifying sources.

 

But the CNOOC official yesterday said the listing could happen later than June because preparations had still not been completed.

 

The fertilizer listing will value the firm at about HK$12.4 billion (US$1.6 billion). JPMorgan Chase & Co and UBS AG are arranging the sale, the paper said.

 

That compares to HK$16 billion (US$2.1 billion) market value for Sinochem Hong Kong (Holdings), China's biggest fertilizer distributor.

 

Sinochem's shares have risen more than 110 percent this year to close yesterday at HK$3.225 (41.3 US cents) a share.

 

Industry analysts yesterday said the agriculture sector will grow rapidly as the government has promised a slew of subsidies to farmers.

 

"Increasing incomes for farmers and robust domestic demand will increase fertilizer production over the next few years," said Liu Gu, a senior petrochemical analyst with Hong Kong-based Guotai Jun'an Securities.

 

At the end of last month, the Chinese Government said it would give subsidies to the country's economically vulnerable groups, such as farmers, and taxi drivers.

 

This follows an increase in gasoline and diesel prices by 5 percent and 3 percent respectively.

 

CNOOC has fertilizer production facilities in Hainan Province.

 

The plant boasts an annual capacity of 1.4 million tons of urea and 800,000 tons of ammonia.

 

Last year the factory made a profit of 960 million yuan (US$118 million) by selling 1.38 million tons of urea, the company said on its website.

 

Industry sources said China produced 52.2 million tons of fertilizer products last year, a year-on-year increase of 8.6 percent.

 

China National Offshore has already listed CNOOC Limited and China Oilfield Services in Hong Kong, while China Offshore Oil Engineering is listed in Shanghai.

 

CNOOC Limited's 2005 profit hit a record 25.3 billion yuan (US$3.1 billion), a 57 percent increase from a year earlier.

 

(China Daily April 14, 2006)