CNOOC says foreign investment is not required as Shell, Unocal make their exit
CNOOC, the Hong Kong-listed unit of China's leading offshore oil producer, says the withdrawal of foreign investors from its East China Sea natural gas project will neither affect progress nor trigger a search for replacements.
Unocal Corp of the United States and Royal Dutch/Shell Group announced on Tuesday night they were quitting the five-contract project to explore for, develop and market natural gas resources in the Xihu Trough for 'commercial reasons'.
Last month, in another retreat from China by international concerns, oil giant PetroChina ended a preliminary agreement on the west-east gas pipeline project with ExxonMobil and Shell.
'We couldn't agree on the development plan and speed of progress [of the Xihu Trough project],' said CNOOC chief financial officer Mark Qiu Zilei.
He said CNOOC was eager to begin development while its foreign partners wanted to further establish the availability of reserves.
However, Mr Qiu, who stressed the project's viability, added that different parties had 'different cost bases that weighed differently financially'.
