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China, N Korea in talks to explore for oil, gas |
BEIJING: China and North Korea plan to explore for oil and gas in the Bohai Sea between the Korean Peninsula and northeastern China, a Chinese government energy adviser said.
The Chinese government has begun exploration talks with North Korea, said Jin Riguang, a member of the Chinese parliament’s upper house.
The Bohai Sea holds 1.5bn barrels of oil, or 8% of China’s proven reserves, according to the US Energy Department. The exploration plan may be a new source of energy for North Korea, dependent on China for aid since abrogating a 2002 oil-for-weapons programme with the US and its allies.
North Korea had asked for the equivalent of 2,000MW of oil aid in exchange for ending its nuclear programme.
“A deal between China and North Korea would work’’ because “the Chinese have the connections, the equipment and the cash to help North Korea explore the Bohai,’’ said Paul French, author of North Korea: The Paranoid Peninsula, in a phone interview from Shanghai. Talks between China, the US, Russia, Japan, North Korea and South Korea on the North Korean nuclear programme have stalled since November. North Korea has cited US financial sanctions as its reason for not returning to talks.
“North Korea is a neighbour and long-time friend and that is why we’re looking at jointly exploring the Bohai Sea,’’ Jin said in an interview in Beijing, without giving details. “The reserves there will help both nations.’’
Jin, 72, advises the Chinese government on nuclear technology and energy policies. He’s a professor at Beijing’s University of Chemical Technology.
China, the world’s second-largest oil consumer, has been stepping up its exploration and acquisition of overseas oil reserves to feed its industries. Bohai Sea, an area of about 95,000sq km, is one of China’s busiest sea routes, where ports including Dalian, Qingdao and Tianjin handled 23% of the country’s 2001 trade, according to government statistics.
CNOOC Ltd, the biggest Chinese state-owned offshore oil company, operates 24 exploration sites in the Bohai Sea, according to the company’s website.
China wants to get ahead of other overseas oil companies including Dublin-based Aminex Plc, which have begun talks with North Korea’s government to explore for energy resources in the area close to the North Korean coast, French said.
China, which leapfrogged France and the UK last year as the world’s fourth-biggest economy, has 18.3bn barrels of proven oil reserves. The economy expanded 10.2% in the first quarter, China’s president Hu Jintao said on April 16, exceeding economists’ expectations as manufacturing investment and exports surged.
The nation’s imports of oil and raw materials have caused global oil and commodity prices to surge. China’s hunt for energy has led to friction with Japan. The two counties are in a long-running dispute over the right to drill for oil and gas. – Bloomberg |
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