Subject: Re: WSJ/Sinopec/SOE
From: "James Bulger" <[email-masked]>
To: "Hunter Biden" <[email-masked]>
Cc: "Devon Archer" <[email-masked]>, "Michael Leonard" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2015 21:12:03 -0500

I share your frustration this is a good example of why we need those bi-
weekly calls

On Tuesday, February 17, 2015, Hunter Biden <[email-masked]>
wrote:

> All good here- just venting.
>
> RHB
> 202.333.1880
>
> On Feb 17, 2015, at 9:01 PM, James Bulger <[email-masked]
> <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml',[email-masked]');>> wrote:
>
> It is absurd but let's just wait a few days Xin might get back to us
> Patience Kingpin
> Us going apeshit won't help the outcome one way or another. Frustrated as
> hell here but we are dealing with the Chinese they might be buying time
> to get Sinopec done without telling us something that has anyone at BHR
> loosing "face"
> We should sit still for two days then follow up with another email inquiry
> Let's circle up in Thursday morning
> Ok?
>
>
> On Tuesday, February 17, 2015, Hunter Biden <[email-masked]
> <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml',[email-masked]');>> wrote:
>
>> That's absurd. No one can even reply to an email w/ a simple yes or no
>> for two weeks?
>>
>> RHB
>> 202.333.1880
>>
>> On Feb 17, 2015, at 8:17 PM, James Bulger <[email-masked]> wrote:
>>
>> No idea what is going on this deal. The Holiday break in China is now in
>> full swing so we may not hear anything for the next two weeks.
>> Jimmy
>>
>> On Tuesday, February 17, 2015, Hunter Biden <[email-masked]>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> And still no word on whether they called and we delivered the $???
>>> What's the deal?
>>>
>>> RHB
>>> 202.333.1880
>>>
>>> On Feb 17, 2015, at 4:45 PM, James Bulger <[email-masked]>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Take a look at this article
>>>
>>>
>>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>>> From: *Eileen Kerwin* <[email-masked]>
>>> Date: Tuesday, February 17, 2015
>>> Subject: WSJ/Sinopec/SOE
>>> To: James <[email-masked]>, James Bulger <[email-masked]>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> BUSINESS
>>> <http://www.wsj.com/public/search?article-doc-type=%7BBusiness%7D&HEADER_TEXT=business&mod=flashline>
>>> China Considering Mergers Among Its Big State Oil CompaniesGovernment
>>> economic advisers are conducting a feasibility study of options for
>>> consolidation
>>> [image: Drivers wait to fill their tanks at a Sinopec gas station in
>>> Zhengzhou, Henan province, Feb. 9, before China was set to raise retail
>>> prices after global oil prices recovered some 20 percent in the past two
>>> weeks.]ENLARGE
>>> Drivers wait to fill their tanks at a Sinopec gas station in Zhengzhou,
>>> Henan province, Feb. 9, before China was set to raise retail prices after
>>> global oil prices recovered some 20 percent in the past two weeks.
>>> PHOTO: REUTERS
>>> By
>>> LINGLING WEI And
>>>
>>> BRIAN SPEGELE
>>> Feb. 17, 2015 7:30 a.m. ET
>>> 2 COMMENTS
>>> <http://www.wsj.com/articles/china-considering-mergers-among-its-big-state-oil-companies-1424176242#livefyre-comment>
>>>
>>> BEIJING—China is considering forging megamergers among its big state oil
>>> companies, seeking to create new national champions able to take on the
>>> likes of Exxon Mobil  <http://quotes.wsj.com/XOM>Corp. and produce
>>> greater efficiencies at a time of low prices.
>>>
>>> At the request of China’s leadership, government economic advisers are
>>> conducting a feasibility study of options for consolidation, according to
>>> officials with knowledge of the research. One involves potentially
>>> combining the country’s largest oil companies, China National Petroleum
>>> Corp., or CNPC, and its main domestic rival, China Petrochemical Corp., or
>>> Sinopec, the officials said. Other options look at merging two other major
>>> energy companies, China National Offshore Oil Corp., or Cnooc, and Sinochem
>>> Group.
>>>
>>> No timetable has been set for a decision on whether or when to proceed
>>> with the various proposed mergers, said the officials. Spokespeople for the
>>> four Chinese oil companies and the State-owned Assets Supervision and
>>> Administration Commission, which oversees the largest state enterprises,
>>> declined to comment or didn’t respond to queries.
>>> Advertisement
>>>
>>> The possible mergers would be the latest consolidation of state
>>> companies blessed by the government as it tries to regear a slowing economy
>>> for a new phase of growth. As part of that effort, President Xi Jinping
>>> <http://topics.wsj.com/person/J/Xi-Jinping/6475>, now more than two
>>> years in office, is trying to revamp major state firms to make them more
>>> competitive globally.
>>>
>>> Though the government has taken some tentative steps to allow more
>>> private and foreign capital to flow into infrastructure, resources, banking
>>> and other areas long the preserve of state firms, Mr. Xi has said state
>>> companies remain an “important pillar of the national economy.” The
>>> government “must ensure they thrive,” Mr. Xi said in remarks in August.
>>> Bigger and stronger state companies, according to officials and scholars
>>> familiar with the leadership’s thinking, are viewed by Mr. Xi as key to
>>> China’s reclaiming its prominence in the world.
>>> Advertisement
>>>
>>> Mergers could also boost efficiencies in an economy increasingly
>>> burdened by excess capacity—a problem that has caused Chinese manufacturers
>>> to compete against one other by cutting prices. Late last year, the
>>> government announced a plan to merge the country’s top two state-owned
>>> railcar makers with a goal of making the combined company capable of
>>> competing with Siemens  <http://quotes.wsj.com/XE/XETR/SIE>AG in
>>> Germany and Canada’s Bombardier  <http://quotes.wsj.com/CA/XTSE/BBD.B>
>>> Inc.
>>>
>>> The four oil companies—CNPC, Sinopec, Cnooc and Sinochem—have long
>>> dominated every phase of the industry; for years each had a geographic or
>>> business area of specialty. For instance, CNPC focused on exploration and
>>> production, and Sinopec on refining. Over the past 15 years, in response to
>>> earlier reform plans to spur competition, they’ have expanded into the
>>> others’ turf, creating overlapping operations that span exploration,
>>> refining to running gas pumps.
>>> RELATED
>>>
>>>
>>>    - Oil Prices Edge Higher
>>>    <http://www.wsj.com/articles/oil-futures-trade-near-friday-close-1424068921>
>>>    - Europe’s Oil Companies Get a Boost From Their Refineries
>>>    <http://www.wsj.com/articles/europes-oil-companies-get-a-boost-from-their-refineries-1424104067>
>>>    - Pemex Delays Refinery Upgrades Due to Budget Cuts
>>>    <http://www.wsj.com/articles/pemex-delays-refinery-upgrades-due-to-budget-cuts-1424131058>
>>>
>>> “They’re increasingly fighting among each other,” said one of the
>>> officials with knowledge of the consolidation plan. “That has led to lots
>>> of waste and inefficiency.”
>>>
>>> With international oil prices having halved in less than a year, those
>>> problems have become more pronounced, giving reform new urgency. Combining
>>> and then streamlining the operations of the major Chinese oil producers
>>> could help reduce waste caused by redundant staff and projects, the
>>> officials said. A combined enterprise could then focus on building up a
>>> better-funded company to compete around the world.
>>>
>>> Low oil prices have spurred talk of new deals activity across the globe,
>>> as stronger companies engage in opportunistic buying of weaker firms. Among
>>> big deals last year, Spain’s Repsol  <http://quotes.wsj.com/ES/XMCE/REP>SA
>>> agreed to acquire Canadian oil-and-gas producer Talisman Energy
>>> <http://quotes.wsj.com/CA/XTSE/TLM>Inc. for $8.3 billion.
>>>
>>> “We want to create a big Chinese brand to better compete overseas,” the
>>> Chinese official said. “We want our own Exxon Mobil.”
>>>
>>> The potential shake-up would cap what has been a tumultuous period for
>>> China’s oil industry. Chinese oil giants—in particular CNPC—have been the
>>> focus of an antigraft campaign championed by President Xi. Leading industry
>>> executives have been detained for suspected graft, and added scrutiny has
>>> helped spur a huge pullback in new investment by wary executives.
>>>
>>> A decision to consolidate China’s oil sector by making big state firms
>>> even bigger could end up tamping competition at home and stymie
>>> market-oriented reforms, some analysts said. It is unclear whether a
>>> possible consolidation would be followed by reforms, such as lowering
>>> barriers that have marginalized independent oil-and-gas producers.
>>>
>>> “If you are focused on the foreign market, you certainly want to
>>> consolidate because it’s more competitive abroad,” said Lin Boqiang,
>>> director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen
>>> University. “But if just for the domestic market it’s better to have more
>>> competition, because competition leads to efficiency.”
>>>
>>> Beijing has started inviting private capital into the oil industry.
>>> Sinopec last year sold a nearly 30% stake in its retail sales-and-marketing
>>> unit to a group of 25 investors, mostly Chinese. But none of the
>>> initiatives involves selling a controlling stake to the private sector.
>>>
>>> A bigger challenge is whether the government would allow the combined
>>> entities to improve performance by reducing their huge workforces or
>>> shedding assets, said Philip Andrews-Speed, an expert on energy governance
>>> in China at the National University of Singapore. “That will be the test of
>>> whether this is old state-ism ... or are they really looking for better
>>> performance,” he said.
>>>
>>> PetroChina  <http://quotes.wsj.com/CN/XSHG/601857>Co. , the listed arm
>>> of CNPC, has nearly 550,000 employees world-wide, more than seven times as
>>> big as Exxon Mobil Corp. The Chinese company delivered revenue of $361
>>> billion in 2013, compared with more than $420 billion in sales and other
>>> revenue at Exxon.
>>>
>>> These days, all of China’s big oil companies have been under pressure
>>> from prices and from the government to cut costs and focus on improving
>>> returns. For example, Cnooc  <http://quotes.wsj.com/HK/XHKG/0883>Ltd. ,
>>> the listed unit of China National Offshore Oil, says it will cut capital
>>> spending by as much as 35% in 2015 as a result of falling global oil
>>> prices. Expenditures at PetroChina and Sinopec are also expected to fall
>>> this year.
>>>
>>> Marrying CNPC and Sinopec would create one of the world’s biggest
>>> companies. A combined entity at least in the short run could control a vast
>>> majority of China’s onshore oil-and-gas production and would hold total
>>> assets of hundreds of billions of dollars.
>>>
>>> In the case of Cnooc, a merger with Sinochem, would give it more
>>> refining operations, giving it more sources of revenue that over time could
>>> help shield it against oil-market volatility. Cnooc is regarded by analysts
>>> as the most vulnerable to the oil-and-gas price drop, in part because it
>>> expanded aggressively abroad, buying assets including Canadian oil-sands
>>> operator Nexen Inc. for $15.1 billion in 2013 when prices were high.
>>>
>>> Write to Lingling Wei at [email-masked] and Brian Spegele at
>>> [email-masked]
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> James J. Bulger
>>> Chairman
>>> Thornton Group LLC
>>> 14 Beacon Street, Suite 804A
>>> Boston, MA 02108
>>> Office tel: 617.248.9440
>>>
>>>
>>
>> --
>> James J. Bulger
>> Chairman
>> Thornton Group LLC
>> 14 Beacon Street, Suite 804A
>> Boston, MA 02108
>> Office tel: 617.248.9440
>>
>>
>
> --
> James J. Bulger
> Chairman
> Thornton Group LLC
> 14 Beacon Street, Suite 804A
> Boston, MA 02108
> Office tel: 617.248.9440
>
>

-- 
James J. Bulger
Chairman
Thornton Group LLC
14 Beacon Street, Suite 804A
Boston, MA 02108
Office tel: 617.248.944