PetroChina Co, the nation's biggest oil and gas explorer, plans to sell 15 billion yuan (US$2.2 billion) worth of three-year medium-term notes to boost its cash flow.

An increase in the company's windfall tax payments last year raised the need to expand cash flow, PetroChina said in a statement posted on the Chinabond Website yesterday. The sale is the last batch of a planned 30-billion-yuan note issuance after the first was sold in January, it said.

China taxes oil producers' revenue from crude oil sold for more than US$40 a barrel, according to Bloomberg News. Benchmark crude oil prices in New York averaged US$99.75 last year.

"The company's refining cost last year increased noticeably from the 2007 level because of the relatively large increase in crude purchasing prices," PetroChina said in the Chinabond statement.

(Shanghai Daily March 17, 2009)