09:12 CHINA GAS HOLD<00384>-Announcement&Resumption of Trading (1) The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited takes no responsibility for the contents of this announcement, makes no representation as to its accuracy or completeness and expressly disclaims any liability whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from or in reliance upon the whole or any part of the contents of this announcement. CHINA GAS HOLDINGS LIMITED (incorporated in Bermuda with limited liability) (Stock Code: 384) ANNOUNCEMENT PURSUANT TO RULE 13.09 This announcement is made by the Company pursuant to Rule 13.09 of the Listing Rules. The Board is pleased to announce that the Company was granted the licence for a period of 30 years to operate the pipelined gas for the Jiang Bei district of Nanjing city, PRC. Trading of shares of the Company was suspended with effect from 9:30 a.m. on 20 January 2005 at the request of the Company pending publication of this announcement. Application has been made for the resumption of the trading of the shares of the Company at 9:30 a.m. on 21 January 2005. This announcement is made by China Gas Holdings Limited (the "Company", together with its subsidiaries, the "Group") pursuant to Rule 13.09 of the Rules (the "Listing Rules") Governing the Listing of Securities on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited. The board (the "Board") of directors of the Company is pleased to announce that in response to the tender made by the Company in November 2004, the Company was granted the licence for a period of 30 years to operate the pipelined gas project (the "Project") for Jiang Bei district of Nanjing city (*) of the People's Republic of China ("PRC"). According to the approval from the municipal government of Nanjing city, the Company shall form a wholly-owned subsidiary ("WOS") in the PRC with registered capital of RMB200 million for the purpose of the Project. The profit and loss of the WOS will be borne wholly by the Company. However the WOS shall pay a licence fee at 0.5% of the annual income from the sale of natural gas (excluding the income from connection fee) to the municipal government of Nanjing city. The board of directors of the WOS shall comprise seven members, five of which shall be nominated by the Company, one of which shall be nominated by the municipal government of Nanjing city and the remaining one shall be a celebrity in the gas industry to be invited from the public. The resolutions of the board of the WOS shall be decided on a majority of votes. Within three days from the date of this announcement, the Company shall pay RMB1,000,000 as guarantee deposit for the Project which shall be applied as part of the registered capital of the WOS when it is established. Nanjing city is the capital of Jiang Xu Province. Jiang Bei district of Nanjing city includes Luhe district and Pukou district, the area of which covers more than 50% of the Nanjing city. The planned population of this area is about 3.6 million, and is the main development area of Nanjing city. Pukou district is an important strategic development area for the Nanjing city and is planned to be a luxury residential area and high technology development zone while Luhe district is a major area in Nanjing city for chemical industry. Currently, the gas used in Jiang Bei district is mainly bottled liquefied natural gas. Nanjing city is PRC's major chemical industrial city. With the tremendous support from the PRC government, Jiang Bei district of Nanjing city has developed into an area focusing on chemical industry. Nanjing Chemical Industrial Zone (*), a national grade chemical industry base in PRC, was established in Jiang Bei district of Nanjing city in 2001. Large corporations in Nanjing Chemical Industrial Zone include Sinopec Yangzi Petrochemcial Co. Ltd. (*) and BASF-YPC Company Limited (*), both are subsidiaries of Sinopec, and several chemical investment projects formed by other local and foreign companies in different countries. All these investment projects use natural gas as their energy and it is expected that the consumption of natural gas in Jiang Bei district will reach 2 billion m3 per year in the next ten years. The Group is principally engaged in investment in, among others, natural gas/energy and property projects. The Board considers that the Project is in line with the Group's strategy of developing and investing in natural gas projects in large cities in the PRC. In particular, the Project will enable the Group to supply natural gas to industrial corporate customers with a high demand for natural gas and this will increase the proportion of natural gas sales in the Group's total sales revenue.