CNPC Finance (HK) Limited provides loan for acquisition of 25% equity stake in West Qurna-1 oil field from ExxonMobil

In 2013, CNPC Finance (HK) Limited issued a loan to PetroChina International Iraq FZE — a local subsidiary of CNPC — to facilitate its acquisition of a 25% equity stake in the West Qurna-1 oil field from ExxonMobil Limited. The borrowing terms of the loan are unknown. However, it is known that the borrower used the proceeds from the acquisition loan to purchase a 25% equity stake in West Qurna-1 oil field (project) of ExxonMobil Iraq Limited for $590 million (approximately RMB 3.658 billion) on December 2, 2013. The West Qurna field is one of Iraq's largest oil fields and is located north of Rumaila field, west of Basra. West Qurna-1 was originally expected to produce around 600,000 barrels of oil per day. The field, launched in 2010, was jointly owned by ExxonMobil (with a majority 60% stake), an Iraqi state-run oil company and Shell prior to the December 2, 2013 acquisition. CNPC’s equity stake increased to 32.7% in April 2014. The project’s equity structure changed in May 2018 (ExxonMobil—32.7%, CNPC—32.7%, ITOCHU—19.6% Pertamina—10%, Oil Exploration Company of Iraq—5%).

Additional details

1. The face value of the CNPC Finance (HK) Limited loan is unknown. However, given that the total cost of the acquisition was $590 million and most Chinese acquisition loans cover at least 70% of the total cost of the acquisition, AidData assumes for the time being that the face value of the CNPC Finance (HK) Limited loan was roughly equivalent to $413 million. This issue warrants further investigation. 2. CNPC Finance (HK) Limited (CPFHK) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of CNPC.

Number of official sources

6

Number of total sources

9