Nippon Oil, PetroChina team for refining venture

Bloomberg

Nippon Oil Corp., Japan's largest refiner, said it agreed to form a refining venture with PetroChina Co., expanding their alliance to capture growing Asian demand. The companies will consider jointly operating Nippon Oil's 115,000 barrel-a-day refinery in Osaka as part of the venture, Nippon Oil president Shinji Nishio told reporters yesterday. The venture, in which the Japanese company will hold a 51-per-cent stake, will probably start by April, 2009. The deal comes during a visit to Japan by Chinese President Hu Jintao. Under an agreement signed yesterday, Nippon Oil will operate the Osaka plant while PetroChina will handle the purchase of crude oil and sales of refined products. 5001 (Tokyo) rose ¥56 to ¥774 ($7.46). 857 (Hong Kong) fell 66 Hong Kong cents to $11.46 Hong Kong.