China National Petroleum Corp has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Petroleum, the Chinese state-run oil giant said.

 

The agreement on the oil and gas exploration and production was signed in Beijing on an official visit by Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.

 

The non-binding strategic co-operation agreement was signed during a ceremony in Beijing by Dr Sultan Al Jaber, CEO Energy, Mubadala Development Company, on behalf of Mubadala Petroleum, and CNPC chairman Wang Yilin.

 

The agreement identifies potential areas for collaboration in the upstream oil and gas sector outside of the UAE and, more specifically, new and existing projects including onshore conventional projects, offshore projects and LNG projects.

 

Musabbeh Al Kaabi, CEO, Mubadala Petroleum, said: “This agreement reflects a growing level of dialogue between ourselves and CNPC, both nationally-owned companies with expanding international interests.We welcome the continued strengthening of links between countries and companies across the traditional trading routes of the Middle East and Asia, a region where Mubadala Petroleum already has well established operations.”

 

Li Yueqiang, director-general of International Department, CNPC, said: “Based on the successful story of CNPC’s presence inside the UAE, I am convinced that this Agreement will be very conducive to further expanding our collaboration with the Abu Dhabi partners on a global scale.CNPC is poised to work closely with Mubadala Petroleum to make substantive progress soon, delivering value to both our companies”. 

 

Mubadala Petroleum operates a growing portfolio of producing assets in South East Asia. The latest of these is Nong Yao, which is located in the Gulf of Thailand and came on stream in June 2015.  

 

The company is now the second largest black oil producer in Thailand.  It also has several other projects under appraisal and development in the region.

 

In October, sources familiar with the matter said Saudi Aramco, the world's biggest oil producer, was in talks to acquire a stake in a CNPC refinery as well as retail assets, a deal that would help it sell more of its output to China amid growing competition.