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SCMP Reporter

Anton Oilfield Services, which sells oil-drilling equipment to PetroChina, Sinopec Corp and China National Offshore Oil Corp, has  begun pre-marketing its up to US$200 million initial public offering in Hong Kong.
After two weeks of pre-marketing, Anton would launch a 10-day investor roadshow and price the shares in the middle of next month, market sources said.
Credit Suisse and JP Morgan are arranging the sale.
Beijing-based Anton is the country's largest privately owned oilfield services company. It is structured as a red chip, a mainland company that is registered offshore.
The company was  established by former China National Petroleum Corp executive Luo Lin in 1999.
China National Petroleum is the mainland's largest oil producer and the parent of Hong Kong-listed PetroChina.
Anton  recorded 71 million yuan in net profit for last year on revenue of 240 million yuan. Its compound annual growth rate over the past three years was 90 per cent.
Mainland oilfield services companies are growing rapidly as the nation's largest oil producers increase exploration and production activity at home and abroad to meet rising demand.
The mainland is the second-largest energy consumer in the world behind the United States.
Domestic energy consumption is  projected to rise 4 per cent  per year, to reach the equivalent of 2.7 billion tonnes of coal by 2010, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.
By then, coal is expected to account for 75 per cent of all energy production. Oil will make up 11 per cent and hydropower  7.5 per cent.
'Just like  the property sector when it's booming, it  will benefit the construction sector. So with high oil prices, companies  keep raising their investment and exploration activities,  and demand for services will keep rising,' DBS Vickers oil analyst Gideon Lo said.
'The major bottleneck is drilling equipment, so they've got pricing power. If you're just providing maintenance services, there's a lot of competition.'
December oil futures  traded at US$96.48 per barrel in New York yesterday.
The share price of China Oilfield Services, the largest provider of equipment and services to mainland oil companies, has soared 209.26 per cent  this year in Hong Kong and trades at 39 times next year's expected earnings. The Hang Seng Index is up 44.17 per cent by comparison.
The company raised 6.74 billion yuan through a domestic  initial public offering in September,  during which investors place subscription orders for 300 times the number of shares available. They have almost tripled since then.
The CSI 300 Index  has retreated 10 per cent  over the same period.
China Oilfield is a unit of China National Offshore Oil Corp, the third-largest petroleum producer in the mainland. Profit at China Oilfield jumped 37 per cent to 1.13 billion yuan last year.



Anton Oilfield pushes US$200m share offer