IN BRIEF (Page 14)

Energy

Shell plans shale gas investment in China

Oil and gas company Royal Dutch Shell PLC plans to spend at least $1 billion (802 million euros) a year to exploit China's potentially vast resources of shale gas as part of a strategy to expand in the world's biggest energy market, the firm's top China executive says.

"If there has been an adjustment to that pledge, it could only be an upward revision," Lim Haw Kuang, executive chairman of Shell China said. Lim also said successfully investing in China requires finding a long-term strategic partner.

Investment

Pair pool $1b for LNG plant in US

The sovereign fund China Investment Corp and Government of Singapore Investment Corp have invested about $500 million each in a planned liquefied natural gas export plant of the US company Cheniere Energy Partners LP.

Cheniere Energy, which has regulatory approval to build the first LNG export plant in the United States in 30 years, has been seeking funds to start building.

The company has drawn strong interest from Asian institutions. In May the Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings and the private equity firm RRJ Capital agreed to invest $468 million in the company.

Resources

Rare earths export quota for 2012 raised

China has issued a new round of the export quotas, taking its export quota for the year to 30,996 tons, the Ministry of Commerce said, up slightly on last year despite a crackdown on small producers.

The second round of export quotas this year was 9,770 tons, spread across more than 24 producers including Minmetals Resources Ltd, Baogang Group and Aluminum Corp of China, the ministry said.

That would put the export quota for the year 2.7 percent above the 30,184 tons of last year. China usually issues two tranches of export quotas for rare earths each year.

Banking

Banks warned of foreign exchange risks

Chinese banking authorities have warned domestic commercial banks to take precautions against the increasing risks of imbalance between foreign exchange receipts and payments.

Overseas claims by Chinese banks have reached 4 trillion yuan ($634.9 billion, 504.7 billion euros), a China Securities News report said.

At the end of June, the central parity rates of the renminbi against the euro grew 5 percent, the report said, posing imbalance risks for commercial banks on their foreign exchange assets.

This has prompted the China Banking Regulatory Commission, the country's top banking regulator, to issue an alert on foreign exchange safety, the report said.

Citibank shows cards it holds for mainland

Citibank (China) Co Ltd says it has issued a solely branded credit card in the Chinese mainland, becoming the first international bank to take this step in the potentially huge market.

Citi's credit card will be accepted worldwide, and will be available as a renminbi-denominated and US dollar-denominated card, it said.

China UnionPay is the card's partner in China, and MasterCard and Visa are its international partners.

Stephen Bird, chief executive officer of Citi Asia-Pacific, said the launch marks a significant development in Citi's growing presence in China, after it became the first international lender to enter the mainland's retail banking sector in 2002.

Media

People.cn's net income surges

People.cn Co, the website of the People's Daily, the Communist Party of China's official newspaper, more than doubled its net income in the first half, boosted by sales of its mobile and technology services.

The company's net income rose to 67.6 million yuan in the first half, a year-on-year increase of about 120 percent, its financial report said. Revenue rose 38.1 percent to 291.6 million yuan, boosted by sales of mobile and technology services, both of which registered an 80 percent increase.

The company was the first State-owned news portal to go public. It is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Shareholders approve Youku, Tudou merger

The merger of China's two biggest online video companies has been finalized after shareholder meetings approved the deal, which will create an industry leader with more than one-third of the market.

Youku.com Inc, the country's top online video provider, has acquired its main rival Tudou Holdings Ltd in a stock-for-stock transaction, after receiving approval from the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the companies' shareholders.

While the merger can largely bring down costs, it remains to be seen how far the newly merged company, Youku Tudou Inc, can go amid cutthroat competition in the online video market, analysts said.

China Daily-Agencies

(China Daily 08/24/2012 page14)