Winter natural gas demand to rise 10% CHINA’S demand for natural gas is expected to rise to 180 billion cubic meters this winter, up 10 percent from a year earlier, an official at PetroChina Co., the country’s top oil and gas producer, said Thursday. Petrochina has secured 106.2 billion cubic meters of gas supplies for this winter, up 8.4 percent from a year ago, said Li Wei, a vice director at PetroChina’s natural gas marketing company, the country’s largest natural gas wholesaler. Li said about 60 billion cubic meters of the natural gas would be supplied from domestic sources, while imported pipeline gas and liquefied natural gas would reach about 20 and 10 billion cubic meters, respectively. Zhongyuan Bank to merge with three other lenders ZHONGYUAN Bank Co., a city lender in the central province of Henan, plans to merge with three other local banks amid calls from the government for small banks to consolidate to contain risks in the regional banking system. Zhongyuan Bank, created in 2014 with the merger of 13 smaller banks in Henan, will acquire Bank of Luoyang, Bank of Pingdingshan and Bank of Jiaozuo China Travel Services Co., according to the firm’s filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange Wednesday. Li Ning plans share sale for international expansion DOMESTIC sportswear group Li Ning Co. said Thursday it planned to sell HK$10.5 billion (US$1.35 billion) worth of new shares to raise capital for international expansion and for investment in newly launched product categories. The firm plans to sell 120 million new shares, or 4.59 percent of the enlarged share capital, to its major shareholder Viva China Holdings Ltd. The new shares will be issued at HK$87.50 apiece, or a 8.09 percent discount to Wednesday’s close, with proceeds also to be used for investment in re-engineered infrastructure and supply chain systems, for brand building and working capital. Ping An sees 31.2% drop in third-quarter net profit PING An Insurance Group Co. of China Ltd., the country’s largest insurer by market value, posted a 31.2 percent fall in third-quarter net profit Wednesday as its premium income shrank on a weak economy and profit was dented by losses on investment assets. Net profit fell to 23.6 billion yuan (US$3.7 billion) in the three-months ending September 30, compared with 34.4 billion in the year-earlier period. It marks the company’s worst quarterly profit fall since the first quarter of 2020. | 