Oil chief knows the drill for M&As

Sinopec has made more than $10 billion in foreign investments in the past two years, and now has assets in the world's major oil and gas regions, Africa, South America, the Middle East, Asia- Pacific, Russia and central Asia, and North America.

In 2011 alone, it completed five overseas oil and gas M&As, including buying Brazilian deep-water assets from Portuguese company GALP for $5.1 billion.

This year, it bought one third of Devon Energy's stake in five shale projects in the US. It also intends to buy a 49 percent stake in Talisman Energy's UK subsidiary, which would give it access to 51 North Sea oil and gas fields.

Fu says overseas business has gone smoothly since the Unocal deal.

After Fu Chengyu became chairman of China Petroleum and Chemical Corp, the company completed 10 overseas deals worth a total of $13 billion. [Photo/China Daily]

"We have learned lessons and changed the way we do things," he says. "We did not meet any major obstacles after that."

Chinese investment in the US oil sector has surpassed $20 billion since the Unocal bid.

For a Chinese company to operate overseas, it needs to work closely with local people, Fu says, and to learn about their ways and culture. Local politicians should understand the aims of Chinese investment and local companies should benefit from it.

To avoid doubts and suspicions, he advocates buying minority shares in companies, rather than trying to take them over.

"It is normal that protectionism increases when an economy is not doing well, but you cannot stop that," he says.

These are lessons learned from practice, not business models, he says. MBA course textbooks say the same thing, but the situation is different for every company.

"You have understand who you are and where you are."

China is going through an impetuous period, when individuals and companies want success too quickly and tend to do things before thinking them through, he warns.

"When you are not clear about something, don't do it."

When companies plan expansion, he adds, the key question is not about whether a price is too high or low when making an offer, but whether the deal will add value to a company.

"You have to study how to increase from 5 to 5.5," he says, "rather than buy for the sake of buying."

When people look at the headlines and numbers, they might think Sinopec is doing things too quickly, but Fu says many of the companies it has bought have been longstanding business partners. They understand each other very well, and he feels at ease with them.