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IEA: Chinese national oil companies independent from gov't

IEA: Chinese national oil companies independent from gov't

Write: Arda [2011-05-20]
Chinese national oil companies' investment activities around the world appear mainly to be driven by "commercial incentives" rather than government instructions, the International Energy Agency said in a report on Feb. 17.
The IEA's report repudiated recent criticisms, which claimed the overseas activities of China's national oil companies are being directed by the Chinese government and will result in reduced and more expensive supplies to other oil-importing nations.
"Their investments have, for the most part, helped to increase global supplies of oil and gas via the same international market that other importers rely on," wrote the authors of the report, which backs China's national oil companies.
Based on considerations of commercial interest, China's national oil companies, including China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), sell most of their equity oil and gas locally in the Americas, said Jonathan Sinton, program manager for China in the IEA Directorate of Global Energy Dialogue, and IEA China Program Officer Julie Jiang, who jointly drafted the report.
In recent years, China's national oil companies strived to build cross-border oil and gas pipelines to enable China to access neighboring countries' resources, relieving the country's reliance on the vulnerable Strait of Malacca and diversifying its oil imports.
Those actions were the result of China's growing domestic energy demand and motivations to avoid risks, according to the report.
By People's Daily Online