Article

China Seals Oil Deals

Map of China’s Major Overseas Oil Deals

China’s international oil deals in recent years could secure the country 7.8 billion barrels of oil, many of which will come from potentially dangerous regimes.

China’s oil demand is projected to grow by 80 percent between 2010 and 2030 due to its rapidly developing economy and in particular its growing middle class and exploding auto market.

China’s largest national, government-owned oil companies—CNPC, CNOOC, and Sinopec—have taken aggressive action over the last several years to secure oil abroad in an effort to cope with this growth and a looming global oil crunch. China’s recent overseas oil deals have the potential to deliver more than 7.8 billion barrels of oil to the country over the next several years.

This figure shows some of China’s largest, most recent oil deals, with a focus on 2009 and 2010 contracts. Highlighted among those are countries currently on the U.S. Department of State’s travel warning list for “dangerous or unstable” nations.

China's major overseas oil deals

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Citations

1. Bo Kong, “Appendix 3.1: Foreign Upstream Investment by Chinese Oil Companies, 1992-2007.” In China’s International Petroleum Policy (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC CLIO, 2010).

2. Monica Hatcher, “Oil sands sale brings more than expected,” Houston Chronicle, April 12, 2010, available at https://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/6956022.html.

3. Suzanne Goldberg, “Canada looks to China to exploit oil sands rejected by US,” The Guardian, February 14, 2010, available at https://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/feb/14/canada-china-investment-oil-sands.

4. Dan Molinski and John Lyons, “China’s $20 Billion Bolsters Chávez,” The Wall Street Journal, April 18, 2010, available at https://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703594404575191671972897694.html.

5. Will Grant, “China in huge Venezuela oil deal,” BBC News, September 17, 2009, available at https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8260200.stm.

6. ABC News, “Venezuela, China sign $US16b oil deal,” September 17, 2009, available at https://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/17/2688335.htm (last accessed April 2010).

7. John Lyons, “Brazil Turns to China to Help Finance Oil Projects,” The Wall Street Journal, May 18, 2009, available at https://online.wsj.com/article/SB124259318084927919.html.

8. Jad Mouawad, “Deal for South American Oil Fields Extends China’s Global Quest for Energy,” The New York Times, March 14, 2010, available at https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/business/global/15oil.html.

9. CNOOC Limited, “CNOOC Acquires 45 % Stake in OML 130 Offshore Nigeria,” Rigzone, January 9, 2006, available at https://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=28369.

10. Yvonne Lee, “Sinopec to Acquire Angolan Oil Assets,” The Wall Street Journal, March 29, 2010, available at https://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303429804575149714050757630.html?mod=googlenews_ws.

11. Sameera Anand, “China’s CNOOC and Sinopec Pay $1.3 Billion for Angola Oil,” Bloomberg Businessweek, July 20, 2009, available at https://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jul2009/gb20090720_097528.htm.

12. V. Phani Kumar, “Cnooc, Sinopec shares up on Angola stake buy,” Market Watch, July 29, 2009, available at https://www.marketwatch.com/story/cnooc-sinopec-shares-up-on-angola-field-stake-buy (last accessed April 2010).

13. PBS NewsHour, “China-Sudan Trade Relations Complicate Darfur Crisis,” April 25, 2006, available at https://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/china-darfur_04-25-06.html.

14. Guy Chazan and Shai Oster, “Sinopec Pact For Addax Boosts China’s Buying Binge,” The Wall Street Journal, June 25, 2009, available at https://online.wsj.com/article/SB124584068908746803.html.

15. BBC News, “Iraq in third overseas oil deal,” November 5, 2009, available at https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8344067.stm.

16. BP, “BP and CNPC to Develop Iraq’s Super-Giant Rumaila Field,” Press release, November 3, 2009, available at https://www.bp.com/genericarticle.do?categoryId=2012968&contentId=7057650 (last accessed April 2010).

17. SOCO International, “Sinochem to Buy SOCO Yemen for $465M,” Rigzone, February 4, 2008, available at https://www.rigzone.com/NEWS/article.asp?a_id=56202.

18. The World Tribune, “Iraq awards China major oil deal near Iran border,” March 11, 2010, available at https://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2010/me_oil0191_03_10.asp.

19. RIA Novosti, “Iran, China sign $1.76 bln contract to develop Iranian oil field,” January 15, 2009, available at https://en.rian.ru/world/20090115/119506131.html.

20. David Barboza, “China Starts Investing Globally,” The New York Times, February 20, 2009, available at https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/21/business/worldbusiness/21yuan.html?_r=1.

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