Chinese oil companies are raising dividends despite losses

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The largest Chinese oil companies are going to pay dividends in order to keep investors interested and attract new ones – despite the drop in energy prices, says Oilprice.com.

Tian Miao, an analyst at North Square Blue Oak Ltd. in Beijing, is sure that it is the only way out in the current market situation: "At current oil prices, China’s big oil companies have basically nothing but reasonable dividend payouts to keep current investors and attract new ones."

Although the country’s three largest companies seem to have recovered this year, oil prices are still 30 percent lower than the peak in 2014. Experts note that PetroChina may break even this year, making money on one-off gains.

Gordon Kwan, the head of Nomura’s Asia oil and gas research, commented: “The improved balance sheet means that PetroChina has the capacity potentially to pay a special divided to reward investors. We think PetroChina could become more generous in rewarding investors amid depressed oil prices and trigger out-performance for the stock."