MAJOR Chinese oil producers are preparing to ramp up multi-billion dollar capital spending plans squeezed amid a government probe into industry graft, offering a lift for oil services firms that suffered from belt-tightening in the first half.

    State-controlled majors PetroChina Co. and Sinopec Corp. delayed investing in project launches in the first half as China’s government deepened its corruption investigation in the State sector.

    Oil industry executives say the probe hasn’t ended but may have peaked, having ensnared at least 11 former senior executives at PetroChina and its parent company China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC). That’s enough to trigger new spending at the majors as they switch focus to meeting operational targets.

    The oil services business is one of many sectors roiled by President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption drive. While the clampdown may hurt State spending in certain areas in the short term, analysts say it would help the economy in the long run, boosting transparency in tendering and boosting major independent service providers’ chances of winning projects.

    “The crackdown bodes well for mid-to-long-term development of the economy as it would undermine State monopolies and improve investment efficiency,” said Zhu Jianfang, an economist with CITIC Securities in Beijing.

    Over the past 12 months, PetroChina, the country’s dominant oil and gas producer, and CNPC were at the center of one of the biggest corruption investigations into the State sector in years. PetroChina’s first-half spending fell 16 percent year on year to 91 billion yuan (US$15 billion).

    It attributed the drop to its efforts to “optimize its investment structure and reasonably adjusted the pace of construction of projects,” but reiterated its target is to spend 297 billion yuan this year — down 7 percent from 2013.

    “The oil services sector is being affected by the recent spending in the industry,” Wang Dongjin, PetroChina vice chairman and president, said. “But this is an interim phenomenon.”

    Sinopec has said it will cut expenditure by 4 percent to 162 billion yuan this year, and reported a 25 percent drop in capex in the first half. It vowed to “step up” investment in major producing projects in the second half. (SD-Agencies)