China Trade Information

CNOOC Ltd, the mainland’s largest offshore oil and gas producer, is considering bidding for Royal Dutch Shell’s 16.67 percent stake in an Australian oil production project for about 450 million US dollars, the South China Morning Post reported, quoting market sources.

Royal Dutch Shell, the largest oil company in Europe, is interested in selling its stake in the Cossack Pioneer oil project, which pumps 100,000 barrels a day from the fields in the North West Shelf region.

CNOOC has hired the Macquarie Group, Australia’s largest investment bank, to arrange the potential bid, a source was quoted as saying.

Global oil giants including BP and Chevron Corp, along with Australia’s second-largest oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum, BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining company, and a Japanese joint venture between Mitsubishi Corp and Mitsui & Co also hold stakes in Cossak Pioneer.

The Asia-Pacific region is one of the areas in which CNOOC wants to build its core business. In July, CNOOC strengthened its footprint in Australia by securing a permit to explore in the Bonaparte Basin, off Western Australia, the paper said.

Tags: CNOOC, Petroleum, Shell

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