TAIPEI, 6 November 2005 — Taiwan’s state-run Chinese Petroleum Corp. will send a delegation to the United Arab Emirates later this month to discuss an oil investment offer, a newspaper said yesterday. “CPC Vice President Chiu Chi-hsiung will lead a delegation in mid-November to reconfirm the International Petroleum Investment Corporation’s offer to invest in the Kuokuang Petro-chemical Co.,” the Commercial Times reported.
IPIC, based in Abu Dhabi, plans to take a 20 percent stake in Kuokuang as part of its global expansion but the move has been put on hold because Kuokuang’s creation has not been finalized. Kuokuang is being formed by six shareholders with the state-run CPC holding 43 percent stake.
The company will build Asia’s largest petro-chemical zone — the Kuokuang Petro-chemical Processing Zone — possibly in Taiwan or UAE.
On Friday, four of the six shareholders signed a letter of intent to invest in Kuokuang. After the remaining two shareholders sign the letter next week, the shareholders will apply to the Taiwan government asking that Kuokuang be established at the end of November, the Times said.