BP PLC and China’s China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC, 中國石油天然氣) next week are to unveil a strategic alliance to develop oil resources in Iraq and other regions, industry sources said on Friday, as the UK and China seek to tighten economic ties.
The pact, one of several high-profile deals to be signed during a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to the UK, aims to bolster cooperation between the two companies in Iraq, where they are developing the Rumaila oilfield.
Rumaila, in southern Iraq, is the world’s second-largest oilfield and produced 1.34 million barrels of oil per day last year, according to BP’s Web site.
The two companies also seek to expand into new joint ventures in other parts of the world, according to the sources. No clear production or investment targets are expected to be included in the deal, they said.
State-owned CNPC is Asia’s largest oil producer and parent of PetroChina Co Ltd (中石油).
BP is also likely to use the alliance to expand its operations in China, which have been limited mainly to a fuel retail joint venture.
An agreement next week would add to a US$20 billion deal BP signed last year to supply China’s National Offshore Oil Corp (中國海洋石油) with 1.5 million tonnes a year of LNG for two decades. Its peers, Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Total SA, have natural gas operations with CNPC.
For CNPC, the alliance could offer opportunities also to deepen operations in the North Sea and West Africa, where BP has extensive operations.
A BP spokesman declined to comment. CNPC was not immediately available to comment.
The British government wants to use Xi’s visit, which begins tomorrow, to tighten cooperation between the two countries with a number of economic and cultural agreements.
The UK hopes to sign an agreement with Chinese utility companies China General Nuclear Power Group (中國廣東核電集團) and China National Nuclear Corp (中國核工企業集團) to finance the construction of two nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point, Bristol.
However, it was unclear whether the long-mooted deal would be inked during the trip, Chinese Ambassador to the UK Liu Xiaoming (劉曉明) said.
Xi’s state visit marks a significant improvement in ties between the two countries after British Prime Minister David Cameron angered Beijing in 2012 by meeting the Dalai Lama.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
RSS