Nigeria handed a state-owned Chinese group licenses to explore four oil blocks on Friday, underlining Beijing's increasing drive for energy resources.
China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) won an auction in Lagos for four of 17 blocks on offer, two located in the northeastern Lake Chad Basin and two in the restive southern Niger Delta, the country's main oil-producing region.
The rights in the Lake Chad basin blocks were sold for US$510,000 each, while the two in the Niger Delta were sold for US$5.01 million and US$10.01 million respectively.
Nigeria, which currently exports around 2.6 million barrels of oil per day, is Africa's largest oil producer and the world's sixth-largest exporter.
The deal followed a visit to Nigeria last month by Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), who concluded important bilateral agreements in trade, oil, technical assistance and health care.
In exchange for the drilling rights, China has agreed to invest US$2 billion in northern Nigeria's Kaduna refinery, officials said.
commitment
The top civil servant in Nigeria's oil ministry, Anthony Chukwueke, said the 11 companies qualified to take part in Friday's auction had "shown serious commitment to setting up strategic downstream [oil] projects in Nigeria."
CNPC vice president Huang Yu told reporters his company was pleased with its auction victory.
"We are very excited because of the transparency and fairness of the whole exercise. The success at the bidding has given us the opportunity to be part of Nigeria's massive oil sector," he said.
Huang added the company's foray into Nigeria's oil industry would expand its African network.
"We are in Sudan, Niger, Chad, Algeria, Mauritania and now Nigeria. This development will foster greater economic ties between our two countries. We look forward to winning more oil blocks in Nigeria," he said.
Chukwueke told reporters the bid winners have until June 6 to pay the outstanding amount due on their purchase, and said another auction would take place before the end of the year.
stronger ties
Hu's trip to Africa and the Middle East last month was seen as an opportunity to strengthen ties with oil-exporting countries at a time when Chinese oil demand and world energy prices are rising spectacularly.
The week before Hu's visit, China's offshore operator CNOOC confirmed that it had signed a US$2.7 billion deal to buy a 45 percent stake in another Nigerian oil block, the firm's largest-ever foreign investment.
Chinese oil consumption is expected to rise from 6.59 million barrels per day last year to 6.95 million this year as its once largely agrarian economy continues its rapid industrialization and more of its citizens buy cars.
India, which like China is avid for energy sources, is also represented in Nigeria through the partnership of Mittal Steel and the state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp.
The pair have their eyes on three oil blocks in exchange for a US$6 billion investment in a Nigerian refinery, a power station and a railway line.
Other bidders
Other firms selected to bid included Nigeria's Transnational Corporation, a local subsidiary of the Italian oil group Eni, and its Italian rival Agip in partnership with Lotus Energy.
Two Nigerian oil firms from the Niger Delta -- Clearwaters Consortium and Niger Delta United Limited -- were allocated operating production licences during the bidding exercise in a move designed to douse charges that wealth from the delta oil never benefited the region.
"These companies are being promoted by youth and opinion leaders from the Niger Delta. It is part of the government's initiative and measures to placate restiveness in the region," Chukwueke told reporters.
Netherlands-based semiconductor equipment supplier ASML Holding NV yesterday said that it is planning to hire an additional 1,000 people in Taiwan this year in response to growing demand from clients. ASML had previously planned to recruit 600 people this year, but that the plan has been adjusted upward, ASML vice president and ASML Taiwan general manager Grace Wang (汪佳慧) told reporters. ASML has a workforce of more than 4,500 in Taiwan, accounting for about 10 percent of its global total, Wang said. This year’s recruitment campaign would focus on adding people in the customer support, manufacturing and supply chain domains to assist ASML
UNDER MICROSCOPE: Taiwan detained three people who allegedly conspired to buy servers in Taiwan and export them using fraudulent documentation, prosecutors said Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday urged Super Micro Computer Inc to tighten up on compliance after Taiwan detained three people this week for allegedly making fraudulent declarations about artificial intelligence (AI) servers made by its US partner. The development marked the nation’s first crackdown on semiconductor smuggling, which grew after the US slapped restrictions on exports of high-end chips such as Nvidia AI accelerators to China. Nvidia is “rigorous” in explaining regulations to all of its partners, Huang told reporters after arriving in Taipei. “Ultimately Super Micro has to run their own company,” he said in response to
Nvidia Corp yesterday announced that CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) would attend an employee meeting in Taipei tomorrow to celebrate the launch of the company’s Taiwan headquarters project. Huang would attend a gathering at the site of Nvidia’s planned headquarters in Beitou Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區), the company said in a statement. After arriving in Taiwan on Saturday last week, Huang told reporters that he plans to meet with Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), and would attend the groundbreaking ceremony for Nvidia’s Taiwan headquarters tomorrow. Nvidia has not yet applied
Huawei Technologies Co (華為) said it has come up with a new pathway to shorten its gap with industry leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), potentially achieving a breakthrough in making advanced semiconductors without cutting-edge equipment. Right now there is about a five-year gap between what TSMC is capable of and what Huawei, together with its manufacturing partner Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (中芯), can produce. Huawei is to start making 1.4-nanometer chips by 2031 with its own “LogicFolding” technology, Huawei semiconductor chief He Tingbo (何庭波) said in a rare public appearance during a chip conference yesterday, while TSMC has
RSS