PetroChina Hit by Pension Fund Pressure
At the time when China’s largest oil company, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), is showing a substantial increase in assets, its listed daughter company PetroChina [NYSE:PTR] is confronted by an uphill battle. The growing uneasy of institutional investors and pension funds with the current strategy of oil companies in African oil producer Sudan has again resulted in a major setbacks for operators. One of the main Dutch pension funds, PGGM, currently holding assets of around 88 billion euros, has decided to divest its holding in the NYSE-listed Chinese operator PetroChina. According to the spokesman of PGGM, the Dutch pension fund has decided to end its investments due to the fact that the Chinese operator is involved in human rights violations in Sudan. The unexpected move by PGGM is significant, as this is the first time ever that Dutch pension funds have decided to act against Chinese oil operators. The impact in the whole sector will be high, as Dutch pension funds belong to the top 10 in the world. With holdings of around $1 trillion in total, the Dutch pension funds are a force to be reckoned. For the oil and gas sector this is for sure the case, as funds such as PGGM, ABP, Railway Pension Fund and others have heavily invested their money in oil- and gas-related stocks, while alternatives such as oil futures, etc. have been the main profit-making instruments in the past years. The move of PGGM is expected to be followed by ABP, the third-largest pension fund in the world, behind CalPERS (California Public Employees’ Retirement System) and the Norwegian oil fund. Image source: sudanwatch.blogspot.com. > Continue.
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