Chinese, UAE Firms to Sign Exploration, Refining Deal

China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) are expected to sign as early as this month a preliminary deal to invest in oil and gas exploration and refining, sources said.

CNPC’s international investment unit, CNPC International, is taking the lead in talks with ADNOC, and the deal is expected to be a broad-based cooperation agreement to invest in the upstream and downstream segments, a Chinese oil official said, Oil Price reported.

The signing is expected to take place in the United Arab Emirates later this month during a high-level Chinese visit to the Middle Eastern oil-producing country.

“We see a trend of some (Persian) Gulf countries such as the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia moving to diversify away from their oil and gas reliant economy, by divesting some of those assets to free up capital for other sectors,” a CNPC official told Reuters.

In recent months, ADNOC has said that it would aim to double its refining capacity in a major push to expand its downstream operations.