Taiwan and China may be close to signing a contract to jointly explore oil in the Taiwan Strait, a Taiwanese official said Tuesday.
If the deal is made, it would be the first major joint project between the two sides' state-run companies, and it would follow five years of geological research in the 160km strait.
Taiwan's Chinese Petroleum Corp (中油) is expected to finalize a feasibility study on the exploration project soon and submit it to the Cabinet for approval, a Chinese Petroleum spokesman said.
The Asian Wall Street Journal, which first reported the plans Tuesday, said that the possible deal was also confirmed by Wei Liucheng (
A Chinese Petroleum official told the Taipei Times by phone yesterday that they are actually engaging in a plan to establish a venture with China National Offshore Oil for joint exploration.
"If it's approved by governments on both sides, the venture will be set up in a location other than Taiwan or China," said the official who requested anonymity.
Since both Chinese Petroleum and China National Offshore Oil are state-run companies of either side, they need to have respective government approval in advance before establishing the new venture, the official said.
"Though they [China National Offshore Oil] said they expect to see the new company established in November, we have no timetable for it at the moment," the official said, adding that Wei of China National Offshore Oil is scheduled to visit Taiwan in November.
But the official declined to elaborate on the planned venture as to what extent it will be financed by Chinese Petroleum or its Chinese counterpart.
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