(Yicai) June 18 -- China National Petroleum Corporation, the investment unit of the major state-owned oil and gas firm, and its affiliate PetroChina plan to invest CNY3.3 billion (USD459.3 million) in a nuclear fusion technology developer via a joint venture, which holds a 20 percent stake in the target firm.

CNPC, CNPC Capital, and PetroChina will inject the capital into CNPC Kunlun Capital, which will then redirect the investment to Fusion New Energy Anhui, the subsidiary announced late yesterday. All funds will be used for nuclear fusion tech projects, it noted.

Based on the three firms' stakes in CNPC Kunlun, CNPC will invest about CNY1.7 billion (USD236.6 million), PetroChina around CNY950 million (USD132 million), and CNPC Capital the rest. Their shareholding ratios in the JV will remain unchanged.

CNPC Kunlun holds a 20 percent stake in Fusion New Energy, with two investment firms backed by the government of Anhui province holding a combined 35 percent stake, the Hefei government and an investment firm affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences each owning 21 percent, and a company under electric vehicle startup Nio holding the rest.

Whether the other shareholders of Fusion New Energy will proportionally increase their investments alongside CNPC Kunlun remains unclear. If they follow suit, the company could receive an investment of almost CNY16.4 billion (USD2.3 billion).

Fusion New Energy's compact fusion experimental device, the Burning Plasma Experimental Superconducting Tokamak project, began final assembly last month and is scheduled to be completed in 2027. It will initiate experiments to achieve fusion power generation demonstration before 2030, establish technical foundations for the China Fusion Engineering Demonstration Reactor, and ultimately enable commercial fusion power plant building before 2050, representing a crucial transition from laboratory research to engineering validation of nuclear fusion tech.

Shares of CNPC Capital [SHE: 000617] ended 0.3 percent higher at CNY7.35 (USD1.02) each in Shenzhen today. PetroChina [SHA: 601857] remained unchanged at CNY9.18 a share in Shanghai, while its Hong Kong-listed stock [HKG: 0857] fell 1.4 percent to HKD6.95 (89 US cents).

Editor: Martin Kadiev