CITIC in US$1.9 billion Kazakh oil purchase
By Mai Dou (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-10-27 08:53 China International Trust & Investment Corp
(CITIC) Group will purchase the Kazakh oil assets of Canada's Nations Energy Co
for US$1.91 billion, boosting the energy deposits of the world's fastest-growing
major economy.
The assets being purchased by CITIC, a State-owned investment company, have
proven oil reserves of more than 340 million barrels and a current daily output
of 50,000 barrels, Nations Energy said in a statement yesterday.
"The acquisition is expected to close in December, although it is still
subject to the approval by Nations Energy shareholders, Alberta courts and
certain government authorities in Kazakhstan," the Canadian energy firm said.
CITIC Group Assistant President Zhang Jijing said that the company may build
a refinery in the Central Asian nation after the completion of the purchase.
The deal follows China National Petroleum Corp's US$4.2 billion purchase of
PetroKazakhstan last year.
Kazakhstan has 35 billion barrels of discovered oil reserves and plans to
triple its daily output to 3.6 million barrels by 2015, equivalent to about 4
per cent of the world's output last year or a third of Saudi Arabia's
production, according to a Bloomberg report.
China's oil consumption is expected to rise 6.4 per cent this year to 7
million barrels a day, the Paris-based International Energy Agency said in its
October forecast.
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