PetroChina, China's largest oil producer, has set the price range of its A-share Initial Public Offering (IPO) between 15 to 16.7 yuan per share, the company announced on the HKEx on Wednesday.

The company did not indicate whether it will issue the previously announced 40 million shares. If calculated according to 16.7 yuan, PetroChina will raise 66.8 billion yuan ($9.08 billion), making it the highest global IPO this year.

The company said it considered comparable companies' valuation levels, and market conditions when deciding the price.

Many market participants believe that this price range is more reasonable and is attractive to investors. The final issue price is expected to range close to the upper limit of Inquiry.

When PetroChina held its first road-show in Beijing yesterday, the market showed high enthusiasm. A securities dealers said, almost all institutions which have inquiry capacity in Beijing came to the assembly room.

Relevant agencies which joined the road-show told reporters that freezing funds will probably exceeding 3 trillion yuan.

PetroChina will continue to increase efforts on exploiting upstream resource in the future, the Financial Officer Wang Guoliang said.

According to the plan, PetroChina will announce the final issue price on October 30 and expect to list in the stock exchange on November 5.

China