China, Kazakhstan to seal $10 billion loan-for-oil deal
15 Apr 2009
Beijing: China is likely to seal a deal with Kazakhstan under which it will loan the central Asian republic $10 billion in exchange for a larger access to the country's oil assets. Chinese media reports stated that Chinese state oil group CNPC was in talks with Kazakh state oil company KazMunaiGas to jointly develop oilfields held by local firm MangistauMunaiGas.
KazMunaiGas has a 50 per cent stake in MangistauMunaiGas.
The loan-for-oil deal is likely to be signed in Beijing this week during Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev's visit.
China is the world's second-largest oil consumer and has signed a series of similar pacts with oil producers Russia, Brazil and Venezuela in recent months.
CNPC, parent of PetroChina, is already a major investor in Kazakhstan, owning two-thirds of major oil producer PetroKazakhstan.
MangistauMunaiGas is based in the Kazakh oil town of Aktau and has residual oil reserves of 812 million tonnes, including 194 million tonnes of extractable reserves.