PetroChina, Asia’s biggest oil company, will issue up to Rmb60bn ($8.7bn) of local currency bonds to help in¬crease working capital at a time when it is squeezed by rising crude oil costs and Beijing’s controls on the price of fuel and other refined products.

If approved by shareholders, PetroChina’s issue could rival some of the biggest bond sales in China in 2007.

The Ministry of Railways sold Rmb45bn of seven-, 10- and 15-year domestic currency bonds in November to build new rail lines and improve existing routes.

PetroChina’s bonds would have a maturity of up to 15 years and could be sold in several stages, the company said in a statement.

The proceeds would be used to meet the company’s medium- and long-term capital requirements, such as possible investment in a new gas pipeline from the west to the east of China.

In a separate move, Petro¬China said it planned to buy 208 filling stations and 25 fuel storage sites for Rmb1bn from its parent, the state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation.

PetroChina, which produces about two-thirds of China’s oil, plans to raise capital spending by about 15 per cent to more than Rmb200bn this year as demand in China surges in line with the economy’s rapid growth.