PetroChina, Sinopec to delist from US stock exchanges

Chinese state-controlled oil firms PetroChina and Sinopec have applied for voluntary delisting of their American Depositary Shares (ADS) from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

It is unclear if the move, which follows a trend of Chinese firms exiting US exchanges, will have much immediate impact on their operations. The companies are already listed on the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges.

PetroChina, whose ADS represents just 0.45pc of its total share capital cited "the relatively limited trading volume" of its ADS and "considerable administrative burden" for performing the disclosure obligations to maintain its ADS listing as reasons for the voluntary delisting. Sinopec cited a similar reason and its NYSE-listed unit, Shanghai Petrochemical, has also announced plans to delist.

PetroChina and Sinopec plan to file Form 25 around 29 August to formally delist from the NYSE based on the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934, with delisting to take place after ten days. Sinopec Shanghai will file Form 25 around 26 August.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been pushing for more auditing transparencies from Chinese companies and has recently proposed for publicly-listed companies to disclose data on their greenhouse gas emissions.

Smaller state-controlled CNOOC was forced to delist from the NYSE late last year after the US alleged it had ties to the Chinese military and imposed sanctions that barred US investors from owning shares in the company. This also triggered its delisting from the Toronto Stock Exchange last year. The company has since switched to listing at the Shanghai stock exchange and is turning its focus to boosting domestic crude and gas output under a three-year program to accelerate upstream output growth.

Chinese securities regulator the CSRC has downplayed the impact of the latest delisting move. "The current delisting does not affect the companies' use of domestic and foreign capital markets for financing and development as they are listed in other markets and their US shares form a small portion of overall shares", it said.