Chinese oil firm buying 50% stake in Argentine group

[wotsnext]

China's demand for oil is continuing to grow strongly

China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) is paying $3.1bn (£2bn) for a 50% stake in Argentine oil and gas group Bridas Corporation. CNOOC president Yang Hua said Bridas was "a very good beachhead for us to enter Latin America".
Bridas has proven oil reserves of 636 million barrels, with production activities across Argentina, Bolivia and Chile.
China's demand for oil is continuing to surge as its economy grows strongly.
"The deal is attractive for CNOOC in the sense that it's going to be strongly accretive in terms of reserves and adds to production in the near term," according to Neil Beveridge, senior oil analyst, Sanford Bernstein.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) recently said that China's demand for oil jumped 28% in January compared with the same month a year ago, growth the IEA described as "astonishing".
Bridas holds a 40% stake in oil business Pan American Energy, which is 60% owned by UK group BP.
CNOOC, China's biggest offshore oil explorer, hopes to complete its purchase of a 50% stake in Bridas by the middle of this year.

[Ordie]

I guess the Argentines were woken up by their inadequacies in oil exploration capabilities and capital.
CNOOC has the cash and motivation.

[Flagg]

There appears to be a lot of activity around acquiring untapped energy at the moment, but far less activity around actual development to get it out of the ground.

My thinking is that increasing numbers of smart folks see known energy in the ground being worth more than devaluing bits of paper in the bank.

The cost of energy development....the cost of getting one barrel of oil a day out of the ground is getting crazy high.

[ALT-F5]

What a waste, there's more money thrown around to get oil then to diversify from them.

[T3ngu]

I have been working on and off on an energy project for a few years now. The company I have been doing the work for is owned indirectly by two of the richest men in the world, who have it just ticking away waiting for oil prices to make the project worthwhile. As with what Flagg said, currently its looking to pay off in the not to distant future. And we are not talking small amounts of cash.

Buying into oil or other reserves for future proofing is a wise investment in the current environment. However, it does not address our societies total dependence on something that is most likely not finite.

[Flagg]

I have been working on and off on an energy project for a few years now. The company I have been doing the work for is owned indirectly by two of the richest men in the world, who have it just ticking away waiting for oil prices to make the project worthwhile. As with what Flagg said, currently its looking to pay off in the not to distant future. And we are not talking small amounts of cash.

Buying into oil or other reserves for future proofing is a wise investment in the current environment. However, it does not address our societies total dependence on something that is most likely not finite.

Unfortunately, crackheads are notoriously difficult to reason with...and putting together an intervention for 6 billion people(or even just the 1-2 billion that use 80%+ of it) is just a wee bit logistically difficult.

[T3ngu]

Unfortunately, crackheads are notoriously difficult to reason with...and putting together an intervention for 6 billion people(or even just the 1-2 billion that use 80%+ of it) is just a wee bit logistically difficult.
+1 Rep.

Nice post.