CPC-CNOOC may expand exploration
CPC Corp., Taiwan’s state-run oil company, said it may sign a contract this year with China National Offshore Oil Corp. for joint oil and gas exploration off the island’s northern Keelung port.
The proposal, supported by Taiwan’s government, is pending approval from China’s authorities, S.H. Chu, CPC’s vice president, said by phone from Taipei today, without giving details. The plan will be the companies’ second joint project in the Taiwan Strait, the waters separating the island from China.
CPC and Beijing-based China National Offshore, parent of Hong Kong-listed CNOOC Ltd., are expanding cooperation as relations between Taiwan and the mainland have improved after President Ma Ying-jeou took office in May. The two sides started regular weekend charter flights in July.
“Our high-ranking government officials don’t have any problems with it,” Chu said. “We’ll jointly develop oil and gas in the area off Keelung in the strait.”
The two companies agreed in May 2002 to spend a combined US$25 million to drill three exploration wells in a 15,400 square- kilometer (5,946 square-mile) area off southern Taiwan. They have drilled one so far and are preparing for a second, Chu said today.
CPC Chairman Wenent Pan said in May last year the company plans to more than double oil and gas reserves in five years to shield the island against the rising cost of importing crude.
The company has investments in oil and gas fields in Africa, Southeast Asia, the U.S., Australia and Latin America. In the Taiwan Strait, CPC is developing a field that has an estimated 6 billion cubic meters of natural gas, the company said in January 2005. Production is slated to start in 2010.
Tags: CNOOC, oil, Taiwan