The state-owned Chinese Petrole-um Corp (CPC,
The ministry had originally planned to sell 48 percent of its stake in Chinese Petroleum between 1998 and 2002.
In addition, the ministry has calculated an additional, hoped-for gross of NT$56.8 billion in revenue from selling an additional 23 percent of its Chinese Petroleum holdings into its 2003 budget plan.
In other words, the ministry was expecting the state-run oil company to have 71 percent of its shares sold by the end of 2003, Kuo said.
However, the company was unable to set a timetable for share auctions because the Petroleum Law regulating the operations of petroleum corporations was not approved by the legislature until Oct. 11, 2001, according to Kuo.
He said that Chinese Petroleum had also been forced to postpone the share auctions several times in the past few months because the market environment was not favorable.
In the past few months, Chinese Petroleum has tried to find corporate investors from home and abroad. However, negotiations with some international corporations and oil-producing countries in the Middle East have not been successful, he said.
According to Kuo, a corporation intending to be a strategic investor will be interested only if it can obtain 35 percent or more of the shares and a seat on the board.
In related news, Chinese Petroleum may open an office in Beijing to market its fuel and petrochemical products in China, Oilchina.com reported, citing chairman Kuo.
Chinese Petroleum will focus its investments in China and an office in Beijing may also oversee its exploration business on the mainland, Kuo was quoted as saying.
In May, Chinese Petroleum agreed with China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC, 中國海洋石油) to jointly look for oil under the sea between China and Taiwan.
Chinese Petroleum's share of Taiwan's market for fuels such as gasoline and diesel may fall to 50 percent by next year amid intense competition, OilChina.com said, citing Hong Kong Commercial Daily.
Since Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) started to produce ethylene in July 1999 and began selling oil-based products in September 2000, Chinese Petroleum has seen its share of Taiwan's market trimmed by around 30 percent. Formosa Petrochemical is part of Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑), Taiwan's largest plastics maker.
Besides the oil-supply market, the two have been engaging in a fierce competition over gas-station business recently. According to the Taiwan Ratings Corp (中華信評), the local partner of Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, Chinese Petroleum's market share of retail gas stations in Taiwan stood at 73 percent in April of this year, versus Formosa Petrochemical's 24 percent.
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