The China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) has completed the transfer of a 33-percent shareholding in Canada-registered PetroKazakhstan Inc (PK) to a Kazakhstan state oil company.

 

A CNPC spokesman said yesterday that the firm's subsidiary, CNPCI, had signed the transfer agreement with KazMunaiGaz on July 5.

 

The two parties are now negotiating on the future operation and development of PK, according to the spokesman with CNPC's foreign affairs department.

 

CNPC's planned acquisition of PK through CNPCI was granted an unconditional final order by a court in Canada last October. The deal, worth US$4.18 billion, is the largest overseas takeover transaction ever made by a Chinese company.

 

CNPC signed a Memorandum of Understanding the same month with KazMunaiGas, under which KazMunaiGas would acquire a PK shareholding large enough to gain strategic control over the development of the country's mineral resources, together with the right of joint management over Kazakhstan's Shymkent refinery and its products.

 

PK is expected to reach its forecast oil production of 10 million tons this year, the spokesman said.

 

PK Inc, an international energy company registered in Canada, has assets that include 12 oilfields and exploration licenses in five blocks in Kazakhstan and an annual production of crude oil that exceeds 7 million tons.

 

(Xinhua News Agency July 18, 2006)