China’s National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) says it is investing additional $3 billion in its existing stakes in offshore oil and gas operations in the Nigerian jurisdiction.
The company which already has investment worth over $14 billion in its Nigerian operations, has asked Nigeria’s state owned oil firm, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to seek common grounds of beneficial interest for enhanced productivity.
Yuan Guangyu, Chief Executive Officer of the Beijing based CNOOC, who led top executives of the firm to the corporate headquarters of the NNPC in Abuja, described its investment in Nigeria as “the most strategic and important overseas business undertaking.”
Guangyu said “Nigeria remained the largest investment destination for CNOOC.”
Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, who was represented during the meeting by Dr. Victor Babatunde Adeniran, Chief Operating Officer (COO), Ventures Autonomous Business Unit of the corporation, said the corporation was open to new investments and would foster meaningful and mutually beneficial relations with credible entities like CNOOC.
Founded in 1982, the China National Offshore Oil Corporation is one of the three big Chinese national oil entities. CNOOC is originally focused on offshore upstream exploration and production, whereas the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) is slanted towards onshore upstream exploration and production. SINOPEC, the third of the tripod, is focused on refining and marketing.