China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) is advancing a strategic partnership with Brazil's Petrobras and agreed to cooperate with Norway's Equinor in oil and gas projects, in a push to boost its global footprint and Chinese gas production.
In two separate agreements announced on Tuesday, CNPC will work with Petrobras to take a minority stake in a future refinery in Brazil and a minority stake in several Brazilian oil fields, and will cooperate with Norway's Equinor in unconventional gas in China and conventional oil and gas projects outside China.
Petrobras said on Tuesday that it signed an agreement with CNPC's subsidiary China National Oil and Gas Exploration and Development Company (CNODC) to carry out a feasibility study to assess the investment case for the COMPERJ refinery in Brazil. Once the study is completed, the companies plan to create a joint venture to complete the construction and operate the refinery. Petrobras will have 80 percent in the joint venture and CNPC will own the remaining 20 percent.
The agreement between Petrobras and CNPC also includes the Chinese firm taking a 20-percent stake in the Marlim cluster of fields, while Petrobras will hold 80 percent in those fields and keep the operatorship.
At the same time in China, CNPC and Equinor agreed to jointly explore unconventional gas opportunities in China and conventional oil and gas production internationally, Al Cook, Equinor's executive vice president of strategy, said at a Norway-China energy seminar.
"Companies like CNPC have a tremendous opportunity linking global gas supply with domestic gas demand," Reuters quoted Cook as saying.
The deputy director of CNPC's Foreign Cooperation Administration Department, Zhang Xiangning, said that Equinor could use its tight gas technology in China's oil and gas fields, such as the country's huge gas field Changqing, which accounts for almost a quarter of Chinese domestic gas production.
The Equinor-CNPC agreement was signed during a visit of King Harald V of Norway to China.
In December 2016, Norway and China fully restored political and diplomatic relations, which were frozen in 2010 when Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. More