CNOOC (China's oil producer)seeks expansion in Africa?

Question

(China Daily, Jul 20) CNOOC Ltd, China's biggest offshore oil producer, will seek investments in Africa after US lawmakers last year blocked the company's US$18.5 billion bid for Unocal Corp, Chairman Fu Chengyu said.

"If you can't do it somewhere, then you can always do it somewhere else," Fu said in an interview in Beijing yesterday. "We're looking at opportunities in Africa as a whole."

Overseas acquisitions would help Fu increase oil supplies to a Chinese economy that grew 11.3 per cent in the second quarter of this year, its fastest pace in more than a decade.

Nigeria, where CNOOC invested US$2.7 billion in April, offers a "great deal of opportunities," he said.

"Fu has been humbled by the Unocal experience," said Liu Yang, who helps manage US$3 billion of Asian assets at Atlantis Investment Management Ltd, including CNOOC shares, in Hong Kong.

http://www.zoomchina.com.cn/index.php?/content/view/9707/1/

Answer 1

Big deal. Lots of companies from lots of countries are trying to develop the African oil reserves.

In this case, they don't send in the Chinese navy to chase Filipinos from Philipine islands in order to claim oil reserves. So they are buying in Africa, good for them.

Answer 2

Is this a question?
China is in a rush to secure oil supplies. They have an advantage over western countries in places like Africa, the Middle East and other places ruled by strongmen. Western resource companies aren't allowed to bribe and they have to play along with their state departments. Chevron can't go in and prop up a dictator, but Chinese companies can do whatever they need to do to secure access to reserves. This is why Sudan and Iran love to have China as a client. And it isn't just oil of course. China is getting a lot of commodities out of Africa. Good for the dictators, too bad for the rest of the Africans.