By Yifan Wang

PetroChina Co. is setting up a billon-dollar investment company to push forward its low-carbon development, as emission cuts become an increasingly important part of all businesses.

The investment company is expected to have a total registered capital of 10 billion yuan ($1.54 billion), with the Chinese oil major contributing CNY2.9 billion in cash from its internal funds.

PetroChina's state-owned controlling shareholder, China National Petroleum Corp., will contribute CNY5.1 billion to take the majority stake. CNPC Capital Co., a financial subsidiary of CNPC, will pay CNY2.0 billion.

The newly-established company will focus on investing in "strategic emerging industries" that are beneficial to PetroChina's "green low-carbon strategy," it said in a statement on Thursday.

The move came after all three Chinese oil majors, PetroChina, Sinopec and CNOOC, in recent months played up their ambitions to expand into the fast-growing new-energy market, as governments around the world signal policy priority for carbon emission cuts.

Write to Yifan Wang at yifan.wang@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

04-29-21 0618ET