A Chinese state-owned oil company is in talks with Nigeria to acquire stakes in some of the world’s richest oil blocks, in potentially one of Beijing’s biggest overseas oil deals, a daily said yesterday.
China’s largest listed offshore oil and gas producer CNOOC (中國海洋石油) is seeking to buy 6 billion barrels of oil, the equivalent to one in every six barrels of the proven reserves in Nigeria, the Financial Times (FT) said.
The bids could pitch China into competition with western oil groups including Shell, Chevron, Total and ExxonMobil that partially or wholly control and operate the 23 blocks under discussion.
Sixteen licenses are up for renewal, according to the FT.
Details of the talks are contained in a letter from the office of Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua to Sunrise, CNOOC’s representative, a copy of which was obtained by the FT.
The overall value of the Chinese offer was not disclosed, although some details suggest a figure of about US$30 billion.
“Negotiations are ongoing not only with Sunrise/CNOOC, but also with all other stakeholders in the industry,” a spokesman for Yar’Adua said. “The federal government has not taken any final position on the issue.”
A spokesman for CNOOC in Beijing declined comment.
The letter, dated Aug. 13, said an initial offer was “unacceptable,” but added: “Your interest in all the listed blocks will be considered if your revised offer is favorable.”
China’s government-backed oil companies are seizing on the economic crisis to make landmark overseas acquisitions.
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
The final batch of 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks purchased from the US arrived at Taipei Port last night and were transported to the Armor Training Command in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), completing the military’s multi-year procurement of 108 of the tanks. Starting at 12:10am today, reporters observed more than a dozen civilian flatbed trailers departing from Taipei Port, each carrying an M1A2T tank covered with black waterproof tarps. Escorted by military vehicles, the convoy traveled via the West Coast Expressway to the Armor Training Command, with police implementing traffic control. The army operates about 1,000 tanks, including CM-11 Brave Tiger
China on Wednesday teased in a video an aircraft carrier that could be its fourth, and the first using nuclear power, while making an allusion to Taiwan and vowing to further build up its islands, as it looks to boost maritime power, secure resources and bolster territorial claims. The video, issued on the eve of the 77th founding anniversary of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, featured fictional officers with names that are homophones of three commissioned aircraft carriers, the Liaoning (遼寧), Shandong (山東) and Fujian (福建). Titled Into the Deep, it showed a 19-year-old named “Hejian” (何劍) joining the group, sparking
BIG YEAR: The company said it would also release its A12 chip the same year to keep a ‘reliable stream of new silicon technologies’ flowing to its customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said its newest A13 chip is to enter volume production in 2029 as the chipmaker seeks to hold onto its tech leadership and demand for next-generation chips used in artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance-computing (HPC) and mobile applications. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, also unveiled its A12 chip at its annual technology symposium in Santa Clara, California. The A12 chip, which features TSMC’s super-power-rail technology to provide backside power delivery for AI and HPC applications, is also to enter volume production in 2029, a year after the scheduled release of the A14 chip. The technology moves
RSS