Sinopec to double overseas output
One of China's largest state-owned oil companies has announced plans to increase equity oil output to over 1m bpd by 2015
China Petrochemical Corp.'s (Sinopec) international investment and operations unit has announced plans to more than double its equity oil output from upstream projects by 2015.
Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration and Production Corp. (SIPC) gained 22.9 million tonnes (457,600 barrels-per-day) from overseas projects last year. By the end of 2012, SIPC will have harvested 27 million tonnes of equity oil from its now 47 overseas projects in 23 countries.
The announcement came shortly before China's top oil and gas producer, China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), topped a record of 1 million bpd from equity oil output last year. CNPC, parent company of PetroChina Co. Ltd., has set production targets of at least 2 million bpd in overseas fields, though has yet to disclose a specific timeframe for this figure.
Strong yields abroad are a positive sign for the Chinese oil giants, especially after a condemning report from the China University of Petroleum last year, which claimed as much as two thirds of the $70 billion invested in overseas project by CNPC, Sinopec and CNOOC, were loss-making.
