Why Are Investors Ignoring China's Oil Giant?

[Selvedina + 35]

PetroChina has become the third-largest oil and gas company globally. Its average market cap since the year started has come in at $232 billion, exceeding Chevron's $230 billion. But investors are still cautious because of all scandals related to this company. 

[Mauricio Machado + 27]

I'm guessing communist countries are not very transparent on a lot of information that any reasonable investor might need to know before investing?

[Marina Schwarz + 770]

That's one reason. The other is they still remember how PetroChina nosedived ten years ago. 

[TraderTate + 174]

Right, but China's done a lot of cracking down on corruption lately. 

[Martin + 9]

I think most of the crackdown on corruption has been to solidify existing leadership structures at the top of the tree, political expediency first, facilitating investment transparency and managerial accountability a distant second.

On one level, no-one seems to worry about these considerations when the money is flowing, it's when it either stops flowing or it is perceived to be a possibility that it will stop flowing, that's when investor confidence goes out the window. Often it is better the devil you know than the devil(s) you don't and with a great many of Chinese companies, it can be very difficult to tell what is real and what is not.

[TomTom + 119]

Of course they're ignoring PetroChina... the company has been burning through reserves and has seen its legacy production decline significantly in the last years. PetroChina must quickly acquire some good acreage abroad or double down on China's shale reserves in order to keep cash flows going..  Who wants to become the next Petrobras after all?