China: stepping up overseas resource hunt.
CNPC builds overseas capacity
China National Petroleum Corporation’s overseas operations have the capacity to produce 1.4 million barrels per day of crude oil and 10 billion cubic metres of natural gas per year, according to the company's in-house newspaper.
The report did not give actual production levels but the crude capacity represents an increase of 12.5% from the previous record output of 62.2 million tonnes (1.24 million bpd) CNPC recorded for 2008.
It is also unclear what CNPC’s share of production is although the state player had previously said it owned on average 40% of outputs from its overseas assets, according to Reuters.
CNPC, parent of PetroChina , sealed this year a series of production and service contracts with countries including Russia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Iran and Iraq to enhance its resource base, China Petroleum Daily said, with two contracts to develop major Iraqi oilfields Rumaila and Halfaya among the biggest deals.