Deal for South American Oil Fields Extends China’s Global Quest for Energy
By JAD MOUAWAD
Published: March 14, 2010
The New York Times
China’s top offshore oil explorer, said on Sunday that it had secured a South American beachhead by agreeing to pay $3.1 billion in cash for a stake in one of the largest Argentine oil explorers, with fields in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile.
Kin Cheung/Associated Press
Cnooc's chief executive, Fu Chengyu, said the company's deal with Bridas of Argentina was “to expand our global footprints.”
The acquisition is the Chinese oil industry’s latest move to expand its reach around the world. Starting at the beginning of the decade, companies like PetroChina, Sinopec and Cnooc began buying assets across Africa, Asia and the Middle East to drive the country’s booming economy. More recently, they have struck deals to develop Iraq’s huge reserves and Canada’s oil sands.
Cnooc, a unit of the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, said it would form a joint venture with the Argentine oil explorer, Bridas Energy, by acquiring a 50 percent share in one of the company’s subsidiaries, the Bridas Corporation.
The Bridas unit has proven reserves of 636 million barrels of oil, and daily production of 92,000 barrels a day. It owns 40 percent of Pan American Energy, the Argentine oil producer, with BP owning the rest.
