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Politics : Rat's Nest - Chronicles of Collapse -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (9512)	9/8/2009 1:58:03 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Respond to of 24213

China to Boost Oil Stockpiles, Expand Overseas Output (Update1) By Bloomberg News Sept. 8 (Bloomberg) -- China, the world’s second-biggest energy user, approved a second-phase plan to increase oil stockpiles and will step up acquisitions to expand output from overseas fields, state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. said. The plan to build 26.8 million cubic meters, or 169 million barrels, of oil stocks for emergency use was approved on June 1, the nation’s biggest oil producer said in a report published in its newsletter today. China will boost output from fields abroad to more than 100 million metric tons by 2010, accounting for more than a quarter of the nation’s total. Chinese oil companies have acquired assets in countries including Kazakhstan, Syria and Singapore since December as the world’s third-biggest economy seeks to build reserves and guarantee future supplies. China’s oil demand doubled in the last decade to 8 million barrels a day in 2008, according to BP Plc’s Statistical Review. It imported about 3.6 million barrels of oil a day last year, meeting about 45 percent of its needs. “The country must diversify overseas oil supply to ensure the nation’s energy security in the future,” China National, also known as CNPC, said in the report. “The financial crisis has provided a good opportunity for the country to acquire more overseas oil resources and gained bargaining power in obtaining reserves.” Overseas Takeovers Chinese oil companies have made seven overseas acquisitions this year, costing 82 billion yuan ($12 billion), according to the report. The value is an increase of 80 percent from a year earlier, it said. China’s latest takeovers include PetroChina Co.’s C$1.9 billion ($1.7 billion) agreement this month to buy 60 percent stakes in Athabasca Oil Sands Corp.’s MacKay River and Dover oil-sands projects. PetroChina, a unit of CNPC, agreed in May to buy Singapore Petroleum Co., the city’s only listed refinery, for $2.2 billion. State-owned Yanzhou Coal Mining Co. said in August it planned to buy Australia’s Felix Resources Ltd. for about A$3.5 billion ($2.9 billion). Oil processing capacity at refining projects with foreign partners may exceed 50 million tons a year by 2010, CNPC said in the report, without elaborating. China’s domestic oil output will likely remain steady at 200 million tons a year until 2030 and gas output may rise to 250 billion cubic meters, it said. Increased overseas output may help government efforts to build emergency stockpiles. Emergency Stockpiles China has finished building its emergency oil reserves under the first phase of its stockpiling plan, the National Energy Administration said in June. China will build underground caverns and storage bases in inland regions under the second phase to meet an ultimate target of having emergency oil reserves for 90 to 100 days of domestic demand, Zhang Guobao, the head of the administration said in April. Construction of the stockpile bases for the second phase will commence this year, CNPC said today. China should start oil futures trading at the “right time” to help in the pricing of oil in the global market, it said, without elaborating. The country currently only trades fuel oil contracts on the Shanghai Futures Exchange. Last Updated: September 8, 2009 07:43 EDT bloomberg.com