Energy News — China’s Sinopec Makes New Discovery of Shale Well at Chongqing Field
On 9 January 2024 it was reported by Reuters that China’s most important national oil and gas producer, Sinopec, made new discoveries of a key exploration shale well located in Chongqing Municipality in the Southwest region of China.
Known as the “Xingye-9 well” the findings reportedly came in at 108.15 cubic metres of oil and 15,800 cubic metres of gas. These findings also reflect the Chinese government’s investments put toward domestic exploration and production of domestic energy sources. China, like many countries in the world today, would like to lessen its dependence on foreign sources of energy supplies. Yet, the prevailing trend reveals that China continues to deepen cooperation with Saudi Arabia and Russia on global oil and gas projects within the Chinese Mainland.
For instance, in a news story about global energy markets that got swept under the rug last year, Saudi Aramco signed a cooperation framework agreement with Jiangsu Eastern Shenghong Co., Ltd., on 27 September 2023.
According to the agreement, Saudi Aramco will supply Shenghong Petrochemical with crude oil and other feedstocks, while the two companies discuss a potentinal strategic partnership that would allow for a large expansion project at the petrochemical and refinery compex in Jiangsu.
As part of this strategic partnership, Saudi Aramco seeks to acquire a 10% stake in Shenghong Petrochemical’s integrated refinery and petrochemical complex. Yet, the agreement stopped short of this potential expansion deal.
Read more about the geopolitical trends and latest energy news in the publication Areas & Producers.
