PetroChina Co. Chairman Zhou Jiping. PetroChina Co. (857) is cutting spending as it prepares to invite private investment in line with the government’s push to reduce state dominance at the country’s biggest oil and gas producer. The company’s target for capital expenditure in 2014 at 297 billion yuan ($47.7 billion) is 7.1 percent lower than last year. PetroChina will keep investment at that level for “the next couple of years,” Chairman Zhou Jiping said yesterday at an earnings press conference in Hong Kong. China is pushing the most aggressive reforms in more than a decade as President Xi Jinping works to increase market forces in the economy. The government raised retail natural gas prices and signaled it will start allowing private companies to invest in areas traditionally dominated by state-owned giants. “One of the reasons […]