CNPC to Start Talks on Oil Exploration in Mongolia (Update1)Date: June 24, 2009 China National Petroleum Corp., the nation’s biggest oil producer, will start talks this month to expand exploration and production in Mongolia. The negotiations will cover investments for a refinery and transportation and storage facilities, Galsan Batsukh, Mongolia’s ambassador to China, said in an interview with Bloomberg News late yesterday. Longer-term plans may include a pipeline from Mongolia to the bordering Chinese province of Inner Mongolia, Batsukh added. Chinese companies are taking advantage of lower commodity prices to boost overseas energy reserves. Slumping economic growth and a widening budget deficit this year have increased the pressure on Mongolia to attract foreign investors to develop its natural resources. Mongolia would be able to start developing its own oil industry with help from China, said Batsukh. “We don’t want to be 100 percent dependent on the import of oil.” Liu Weijiang, China National’s Beijing-based spokesman for overseas projects, didn’t answer calls made to his office and mobile phone today. State-owned China National purchased a 94 percent share in 25,000 square kilometers of oil blocks in Mongolia’s Tamsag Basin in April 2005 and began commercial production of about 30 cubic meters a day in November 2006, according to the company Web site.Mongolia Energy The company’s Daqing unit is also assisting Mongolia Energy Corp., a Hong Kong-listed minerals explorer, on the feasibility of oil and gas production in the East Govi Basin near the border with China. Mongolia Energy agreed in July 2008 to take a 20 percent stake in a group tendering for the Ergel XII oil and gas exploration block in Mongolia. The group won the bid to explore the area measuring 1.2 million hectares, the Hong Kong-based company said Sept. 12 last year. Both companies plan to bid for new projects, Mongolia Energy said on its Web site. Batsukh also said Mongolia and China State Grid Corp., China’s dominant electricity distributor, are in “final phase” negotiations for a coal mine and power plant development in the Shivee Ovoo deposit. He said he couldn’t provide more details. Source: Bloomberg |
China Eurasia Investment Forum 2009
Grand Millennium Hotel Beijing, China. China and Eurasia: Emergence of New Silk Road Investment and networking opportunities for investors, financiers, resources companies and service providers Inaugural China Eurasia Investment Forum aims to bring together the government officials, investors, financiers, resource companies, service... Read more
China and Eurasia Region
