Kuwait to pour more money into China oil
(New York Times)
Updated: 2005-12-23 16:18

Kuwait is planning a major investment in China's oil industry, its energy minister said Thursday, on top of a deal already being negotiated to build a $5 billion refinery and petrochemical plant in southern China.

"We think we can support two major projects in China," the minister, Sheik Ahmad Fahd al-Sabah, said on a visit here Thursday. Kuwait is evaluating a range of proposals from possible Chinese partners.

Sheik Ahmad, who is also president of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, also held that organization's first talks with Chinese leaders on Thursday. He and Adnan Shihab-Eldin, OPEC's acting secretary general, are expected to concentrate on increasing OPEC's exports to China.

Some industry analysts say they believe that major OPEC producers, including Kuwait, will seek to use investment in China's refineries to secure market share at a time when Russia is also competing to supply China, the world's second-biggest oil importer after the United States.

"There is a lot of potential for China to import more crude oil from Russia," said Ma Shang, an analyst in Beijing with Fitch Ratings.