PetroChina's expected pipeline spinoff may soften profit blow

With 2016 earnings seen falling 80% to $1b, focus shifts to possible year-end IPO

HONG KONG - As PetroChina Co, China's biggest oil and gas producer, prepares to report what may be its worst-ever earnings, investors are focused on billions of dollars that could be unlocked by a spinoff of its massive pipeline network.

PetroChina's natural gas and crude oil transportation system, stretching from the country's remote borders with Central Asia to major coastal cities, could be worth at least $85 billion, according to analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co and Jefferies Group LLC.