Brightoil Eyes Upstream After Bohai Purchase
Hong Kong-listed oil trader Brightoil Petroleum Holdings Ltd said on Wednesday it expects its upstream business to be the key long-term growth driver for the group following its acquisition of oil blocks in China's Bohai Bay. Chief financial officer Danny Tan was speaking at a media briefing on the company's strategy. Brightoil, which is involved in oil trading and also owns tankers and storage facilities, announced in February that it had agreed to buy Anadarko Petroleum Corp's stakes in two oil blocks in Bohai Bay off China's northeast coast for $1.08 billion in a major push into the upstream segment. Reporting by Charlie Zhu
China Sending 4 Rigs To S China Sea Amid Tensions
China is sending four oil rigs into the South China Sea in a sign that Beijing its stepping up its exploration for oil and gas in the tense region, less than two months after it positioned a giant drilling platform in waters claimed by Vietnam. Coordinates posted on the website of China's Maritime Safety Administration showed the Nanhai number 2 and 5 rigs would be deployed roughly between southern China and the Pratas islands, which are occupied by Taiwan. The Nanhai 4 rig would be towed close to the Chinese coast. The agency, which did not say who owns the rigs, said all three would be in place by Aug. 12. Earlier this week, it gave coordinates for a fourth rig, the Nanhai 9, which would be positioned just outside Vietnam's exclusive economic zone by Friday.
China Optimistic of Finding Gas Offshore Vietnam
A Chinese oil rig whose deployment to waters claimed by Vietnam early this month triggered a rupture in ties has a good chance of finding enough gas to put the area into production, Chinese industry experts said. That would give China its first viable energy field in the disputed South China Sea, as well as make it a source of friction with Hanoi for years to come. For now, China has said nothing about the potential of the area. The first round of drilling had been completed, the rig operator said on Tuesday, without giving any results from the tapped wells. The $1 billion deepwater rig owned by state-run China National Offshore Oil Company Group (CNOOC Group), parent of flagship unit CNOOC Ltd, is scheduled to explore until mid-August.
