India, China Win Joint Bid to Buy Stake in Syrian Oil Fields

From the new World Media Watch up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical
Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com


5//The Daily Star, Lebanon Thursday, December 22, 2005

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=20930



INDIA, CHINA WIN JOINT BID TO BUY STAKE IN SYRIAN OIL FIELDS

By Agence France Presse (AFP)

NEW DELHI: India and China, often fierce rivals in the race for global energy resources, have won a joint bid to buy Petro-Canada's 37 percent stake in Syrian oil fields for $573 million, a top Indian official said Wednesday. The acquisition marked the first time the two Asian giants have bid together for overseas reserves to feed their oil-hungry economies and opened the way for further collaboration.



India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), both state-owned, will have equal stakes in the Al-Furat oil fields.



"This joint acquisition opens a wholly new set of opportunities for both the companies to on the oil collaborate and gas value chain," ONGC Chairman Subir Raha said in a statement.

"The joint acquisition by ONGC and CNPC is a pace-setter for both companies, he said.



The acquisition followed the countries' announcement in April they would team up to bid for some energy projects as they seek to keep their economies booming although they said they would still compete for others.




(SNIP)




Teaming up would give Indian and Chinese more negotiating muscle as they buy up far-flung oil and gas fields, analysts say. Both countries have been scouting for oil blocks around the world to meet their surging energy demands.

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