Top Biz News

Foreign firms eye joint oil projects

By Wang Yu (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-03-10 09:56

Foreign giants are gearing up to further tap China's offshore reserves since the country's top offshore oil firm opened an unprecedented number of blocks for international collaboration.

"Our exploration and production (E&P) department is busy conducting feasibility studies on relevant documents on CNOOC's blocks offered. We are still waiting for study results to make a decision as to get involved or not," Catherine Min, Total China's vice-president of communications, told China Daily on Friday.

Besides the 22 blocks, Total is in close contact with CNOOC on several other offshore projects in China, Min said without elaborating.

This year, 22 blocks covering an area of 114,050 square kilometers are available for international cooperation, China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) said in a public notice. It is largest-ever offer for international cooperation in the country's oil and gas E&P.

"BP is among the first multinationals operating in China and is CNOOC's partner in the Yacheng gas project. BP is constantly looking for material opportunities to develop our upstream business in China and will review the areas on offer," Zhao Yuanheng, a veteran spokesman of BP China, told China Daily upon seeing CNOOC's notification.

BP is an early bird in the joint development of offshore projects in China.