Chinese Firm to Buy PetroKazakhstan:
BEIJING — China's biggest state-owned oil firm has reached an agreement to buy a major oil producer in neighboring Kazakhstan for $4.2 billion — a victory in Beijing's campaign to secure foreign energy supplies for its booming economy.Oh yes, my friends, look to the Far East (or west, depending on which coast you claim) for things to get...interesting. Posted by Kyer at August 24, 2005 09:21 PM | TrackBack[...] China is trying to increase its role in Central Asia in part because of unease at the presence of U.S. forces in the former Soviet region that borders Afghanistan.
Beijing is especially interested in Kazakhstan, which is expected to become one of the world's leading oil producers. The discovery of the huge Kashagan oil field on its Caspian Sea coast in 2000 prompted some in the industry to call it the "Kuwait of Central Asia."
Chinese President Hu Jintao visited Kazakhstan in July and signed a pact with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev to develop a strategic partnership.
[...] Elsewhere, China has signed a multibillion-dollar series of deals to develop oil fields or to acquire oil and gas from countries as far-flung as Sudan, Venezuela and Australia.
The biggest Chinese foreign acquisition to date has been Lenovo Group's $1.25-billion purchase of IBM Corp.'s PC business this year.