BEIJING - Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch/Shell Group and BP Amoco PLC said Tuesday that they were ready to pay as much as $1.8 billion for 10 percent of China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., angling for better access to Asia's second-biggest gasoline market. The acquisitions by the three large oil companies would absorb almost half of the 20 percent stake in China's largest oil refiner, known as Sinopec, set to be sold next month.
Western oil companies are looking to buy Sinopec stakes to better their chances of forming lucrative fuel retail and distribution joint ventures in China.
Exxon Mobil said it could double the capacity of a Chinese refinery it runs with Sinopec and build as many as 500 gasoline stations in the country.
''If you're trying to get into the Chinese market then this is the easiest way,'' said Cheng Khoo, an energy analyst at UBS Warburg in Hong Kong. ''It's easier to do business in China, if you already have part of a local company.''
China is taking advantage of revived interest in energy stocks, as oil prices surge, to sell shares in its top three oil companies.
Petrochina Co. sold $2.89 billion in stock in April. China National Offshore Oil Corp. plans to sell shares in January 2001, after having canceled a sale last October.
Demand for oil in China is growing by about 10 percent per year by volume, bolstered by resurgent economic growth. Refiners have also seen revenues increase as oil prices have risen 38 percent this year in New York.
Sinopec said it had filed for a listing with the New York Stock Exchange and the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. The shares are due to start trading the week of Oct. 16.