Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Gold/Mining/Energy : Big Dog's Boom Boom Room -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dennis Roth who wrote (171311)	7/30/2012 5:26:00 PM
From: Brian Sullivan	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 206161

Cnooc Deal Shows China's Sway in Oil BEIJING—China's state-controlled oil producers are targeting struggling energy companies and projects world-wide, opening up production that might not otherwise happen. In the latest deal, Cnooc Ltd. CEO -0.77%last week said it would buy one of Canada's largest oil producers for $15.1 billion. If the acquisition of Nexen Inc. NXY -0.89%passes regulatory hurdles in Washington and Ottawa, it would join more than $50 billion in overseas oil-and-gas deals completed by Chinese companies since 2009, according to data provided by securities firm Jefferies Hong Kong Ltd. That is in addition to tens of billions of dollars in loan-for-oil programs in Venezuela, Brazil, Kazakhstan and elsewhere. Including Nexen's output, a conservative tally of publicly available data on foreign production for major Chinese oil companies would be in the neighborhood of the total output of Norway, the world's No. 15 crude-oil producer. In many cases, China's oil producers have targeted struggling and underfunded oil-and-gas operations abroad, helping to support supplies amid tight credit markets and a natural-gas glut in North America. Nexen Chief Executive Marvin Romanow resigned in January amid production-related setbacks around the world, including at the company's Long Lake oil-sands project in Canada. Analysts said Chinese capital investment has helped put downward pressure on energy prices even as demand from China and other parts of the developing world skyrockets. "Projects are being developed that wouldn't be if China wasn't in the game," said Laban Yu, head of oil-and-gas research at Jefferies. Mr. Yu cited China Petrochemical Corp.'s recent $2.5 billion investment in five U.S. shale blocks owned by Oklahoma-based Devon Energy Corp. DVN +0.56%The Chinese company, known as Sinopec, owns just a 33% stake in the blocks but is responsible for funding about 80% of the exploration activity. In other cases, Chinese capital has helped boost output of existing projects. Sinopec said in May that its Addax Petroleum unit, acquired in 2009 for $7.2 billion, had boosted crude-oil output to 8.4 million metric tons from 6.8 million tons in 2009. At the time of the takeover, Geneva-based Addax's crude output was declining because of low reserves and a lack of drilling rigs, the company said. Sinopec in 2010 acquired 40% of the Brazilian assets of Spain's Repsol YPF SA REP.MC +2.54%for $7.1 billion. The deal provided funding for the Spanish company's oil-and-gas exploration and production off Brazil. Since then, the companies have announced discoveries in the Campos, Espírito Santo and Santos basins off shore. Chinese investment also has spurred supply in regions where few companies had dared tread. The country has emerged as a competitor in Sudan's oil industry despite conflict there. The world's oil-supply growth is expected to keep pace with demand next year, the International Energy Agency has said, largely because of new supplies from Canadian oil sands, U.S. shale oil and Brazil's Campos and Santos basins—all of which China is heavily involved in. Cnooc and other Chinese oil companies are under government orders to make their operations more international. Beijing is concerned that domestic oil and gas production is stagnating and that initiatives to develop unconventional reserves like shale gas in western China and deep-water reserves in the South China Sea remain years away. The government also hopes to reduce its dependence on the Middle East. Overseas output has compensated for a domestic lag. Sinopec has said it plans to double its share of oil output from overseas projects to more than 50 million metric tons by 2015 from 22.9 million tons last year. PetroChina Co., PTR -1.15%the listed arm of China National Petroleum Corp., the country's largest oil and gas producer, has said it would spend $60 billion this decade to boost overseas oil production. PetroChina, whose combined overseas and domestic crude-oil output surpassed that of Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM +0.13%last year, has said its overseas oil-and-gas production more than doubled since 2007 to 120.8 million barrels last year. The figures don't include output from politically sensitive countries like Iran and Sudan, where operations are controlled by state-controlled CNPC. Cnooc's acquisition of Nexen would mark an uptick in Chinese involvement in North America, where China has been relegated mostly to serving as a financial backer to U.S. and international oil companies. Nexen holds sizable assets in the Gulf of Mexico, and a successful acquisition would further open the door for Chinese companies to operate in North American oil and gas fields alongside established energy giants like Exxon Mobil. Analysts have said that acquiring U.S. assets by way of a third country is a less politically dicey way to make U.S. inroads than buying American companies outright. "Gaining an operating role in the United States via the acquisition of a Canadian company is a smart approach," said Erica Downs, who analyzes Chinese energy policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington. "If Cnooc was attempting to buy an American energy company for $15 billion, I would be much less optimistic about the transaction getting a green light."

To: Dennis Roth who wrote (171311)	8/21/2012 11:34:43 AM
From: Dennis Roth	1 Recommendation Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 206161

Shell plans at least $1 billion/year China shale gas investment Tue, Aug 21 10:39 AM BST uk.mobile.reuters.com ...Asked if the firm remained committed to a plan to invest $1 billion a year in China's shale gas over the coming few years, Lim Haw Kuang, Shell's top China executive, said in an interview: "Yes, yes and yes." "If there has been an adjustment to that pledge, it could only be an upward revision," added Lim, a Malaysian national and a Shell veteran of 34 years...