China, India to cooperate in oil hunt (AP) Updated: 2006-01-13 15:46
China and India have agreed to share information on what they're paying for
foreign oil and gas for their energy-hungry economies in an effort to tone down
a multibillion-dollar rivalry that was driving up asset prices abroad, the
Chinese government announced.
The agreement was among five energy cooperation deals signed Thursday during
a visit to Beijing by Indian Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Mani Shankar
Aiyar, the government said.
Beijing and New Delhi promised to exchange information when bidding for oil
resources abroad.
"Unbridled rivalry between Indian and Chinese companies is only to
the advantage of the seller," China's Xinhua News Agency quoted Aiyar as
saying.
Chinese companies have been bidding for foreign oil and gas in
areas as far-flung as Africa and South America as Beijing tries to secure energy
supplies.
India's effort is on a smaller scale, but its energy demands are expected to
soar in coming years as its economy grows.
In December, the biggest state-owned oil companies of the two countries —
China National Petroleum Corp. and India's Oil & Natural Gas Corp. — agreed
to jointly acquire oil production rights in Syria in their first collaborative
venture.
That came after the Chinese company won a bidding war with its Indian rival
for an oil producer in the central Asian republic of Kazakhstan.
CNPC agreed to pay $4.2 billion for Canada-based PetroKazakstan Inc. in
China's biggest foreign corporate acquisition to date.
This week, another Chinese state-controlled oil firm announced it was buying
rights to an oil field in Nigeria after India's Cabinet blocked ONGC's attempt
to buy it.
Other agreements signed Thursday call for Chinese-Indian cooperation in
exploration and refining, laying cross-border oil and gas pipelines, research
and the development of energy efficiency programs, Xinhua said.
They also promised to work together on alternative fuels such as vegetable
oils blending with diesel and ethanol blending with gasoline, the report
said.
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