CPC looks to Australia

Taiwan's state-owned Chinese Petroleum Corp (中國石油, CPC) is negotiating to acquire rights to explore oil reserves in northwest Australia as part of moves to diversify its supply, company officials said yesterday. A contract with an Australian firm will be signed to give CPC the exploration rights for the block, a company spokesman said. But he declined to provide name of the Australian firm or details of the location of the exploration site, saying details were still under negotiation. The Australian project is part of CPC's five-year, NT$15 billion (US$442.2 million) exploration plan, the spokesman said. The company's five-year program includes oil and natural gas exploration in Taiwan and six other overseas areas, including Brazil and Canada, he said. CPC, which controls 75 percent of the domestic oil market, already has joint venture operations in Ecuador, Venezuela and Indonesia. CPC signed a US$25 million contract with China National Offshore Oil Co in May to jointly explore for oil and natural gas in the Taiwan Strait in the first ever cooperation between Taiwanese and mainland state enterprises.