PetroChina, the nation's largest oil producer, has attracted a record 3.3 trillion yuan in subscriptions for its A-share listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the Beijing News reports.

 

The figure dwarfs that of China Shenhua Energy, the country's largest coal producer, which received a subscription of 2.67 trillion yuan in September.

 

The oil giant has set the price range of its Initial Public Offering (IPO) at 15 yuan to 16.7 yuan per share, which is still cheaper than its current Hong Kong share price of 19.20 HK dollars.

 

The fairly cheap price has created enthusiasm among investors who sold off other stocks for the subscription, which inevitably weighed on the equity market, according to analysts.

 

Chinese shares slumped nearly 5 percent on Thursday, the same day as subscriptions began.

 

Experts predicted PetroChina would finally issue the shares at the high end of the price range, a practice followed by recently returning red-chips such as China COSCO Holdings, China Construction Bank and Shenhua. In that case, the Hong Kong-listed company would raise a record-breaking 66.8 billion yuan from IPO due in November.

 

PetroChina is the first of the country's three petrochemical giants including Sinopec and the China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) to get listed on overseas stock market.

 

PetroChina began trading in Hong Kong and its American Depository Receipts were listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2000.

 

Citic Securities Co., UBS Securities Co. and China International Capital Corp. are the main underwriters of the issue.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 29, 2007)