News » Society » VIDEO: Observers to visit controversial Laos dam
News » Society » VIDEO: Observers to visit controversial Laos dam |
- VIDEO: Observers to visit controversial Laos dam
- China dives into North Sea waters
- Left-behind children experience work of firefighters
- Plane in emergency landing in Hangzhou
- 31 dead in Hebei
- Safety hammers selling out after Beijing downpour
- Urban jobless rate stays at 4.1% for 8th quarter
- Road in a rush after students risk their lives
- Patient on trial over fatal attack on hospital doctor
- China’s Newest City Raises Threat of Conflict in South China Sea
- Spring cleaning in China Chongqing after Bo Xilai
- China Names Acting Beijing Mayor as City Tackles Flood Aftermath
- China Investment Corp. Reduces Holdings of Public Securities
- LME Members Approve Acquisition by Hong Kong Exchanges
- Shell ups China presence with CNOOC tie-up
- Have You Heard…
- Chinese 'jailed' over HK protests
- Rising tide of criticism after deadly China floods
- Agricultural authorities have culled about 95,000 chickens following an outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu virus in northwest China.
- Frenchman linked to Bo in 'good shape'
| VIDEO: Observers to visit controversial Laos dam Posted: 25 Jul 2012 08:28 PM PDT Laos invites international observers to visit the site of a controversial dam on the Mekong River. |
| China dives into North Sea waters Posted: 24 Jul 2012 05:45 PM PDT Why is China buying North Sea companies |
| Left-behind children experience work of firefighters Posted: 25 Jul 2012 10:02 AM PDT A boy tries to operate a fire hose at a fire brigade in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province, yesterday. A total of 10 left-behind children experienced the work of firefighters as they visited a fire brigade here on Wednesday. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Plane in emergency landing in Hangzhou Posted: 25 Jul 2012 09:59 AM PDT A PASSENGER plane made an emergency landing in Hangzhou last night after smoke appeared in the cabin, terrifying passengers on the China Southern Airlines flight. No one was injured during the incident and the plane landed safely. Later, the airline said the smoke had been thick mist formed due to an air-conditioner malfunction. The smoke was detected in the front cabin area at around 5pm about eight minutes after the Airbus 319 plane with 105 passengers onboard took off from Xiaoshan International Airport, said Ruan Zhouchang, the airport's media center director. The plane turned back to the airport where it made an emergency landing. "We were all freaked out when the smoke appeared and a woman sitting beside me immediately started crying," a woman passenger said. "I wanted to calm her down but found myself also frightened." She said the plane had been delayed for four hours in Hangzhou and that had already made passengers feel anxious. At least five fire trucks were sent to the scene but there was no fire on the plane, passengers said. Flight CZ6199 left Daqing in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province and was heading for the southern city of Guangzhou with a stopover in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province. "Maintenance workers have confirmed it was the air cycling machine that malfunctioned and sent a thick mist in the cabin," a China Southern Airlines spokesman said. |
| Posted: 25 Jul 2012 09:55 AM PDT RAINSTORMS that hit north China's Hebei Province over the weekend have killed 31 people, provincial authorities said yesterday. As of 8am, 20 people were still missing after floods and hail hit 58 counties in the province that borders Beijing. A total of 33,586 houses collapsed and 161,700 hectares of farmland were damaged. A relief effort is under way. |
| Safety hammers selling out after Beijing downpour Posted: 25 Jul 2012 09:55 AM PDT AFTER the Chinese capital suffered its worst downpour in six decades on Saturday, Beijing's residents are making sure they know how to survive such treacherous weather in future. The downpour left at least 37 people dead, including a 34-year-old man who failed to escape his car after it became submerged in floodwater. Rescuers later found he had fractured his skull, probably in attempting to smash open the car's window. The man's death triggered online discussions about how to escape a car in such a situation. Videos and pictures have sprung up on the Internet to equip residents with survival skills. A search for "car survival" produced millions of results. Many posts suggested people keep an emergency hammer or scissors in their cars. Since the rainstorm, emergency hammers have been in high demand at online stores such as Taobao and 360buy. On Taobao.com, car hammers sales surged by 598 percent year on year, while the search volume for life-saving hammers saw a 17-fold increase. Beijing residents are the main customers, with more than 1,080 people having bought hammers on Taobao from Saturday to Monday. "I hope I don't need to use the hammer, but ensuring that I have one is the responsible thing to do for my family and myself," said a man surnamed Li, who works in a college in east Beijing. He bought a hammer after he heard about the man drowning in his car. "The public's discussion of survival skills is good, which indicates people's enhanced safety awareness," said Professor Zhou Xiaozheng, a sociologist with the Renmin University of China. "But to popularize first-aid knowledge among the people and give everyone more opportunities to survive in disasters is the government's duty to the public," said Zhou, adding that people should not rely on online gossip. Torrential rain has ravaged 22 provincial-level regions in China since July 20, leaving 111 people dead and another 47 missing, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said. The rains have also driven more insurance companies to stop car insurance concerning water damage, which had not been regarded as a must in city noted for its dry weather. A telephone operator at China Pacific Insurance Co Ltd said she had been busy with queries about water-damaged engines recently. The Beijing branch of China Insurance Regulatory Commission said auto insurance companies in Beijing received 27,459 claims in three days, worth a total of 220 million yuan (US$34.4 million). |
| Urban jobless rate stays at 4.1% for 8th quarter Posted: 25 Jul 2012 09:17 AM PDT CHINA'S urban registered unemployment rate was 4.1 percent at the end of June, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said yesterday. It was unchanged for the eighth consecutive quarter during the April-June period, and was below the government's 4.6-percent annual target set for this year. China created 6.94 million new jobs in urban areas in the first half of the year, fulfilling 77 percent of its annual target of creating 9 million new jobs, ministry spokesman Yin Chengji told reporters. A total of 2.94 million laid-off workers were re-employed in the first six months, meeting 59 percent of the annual target to have 5 million unemployed workers move back into jobs, Yin added. The country's central and western regions were a major force in creating jobs in the first half as their economies had kept growing by more than 10 percent despite the overall slowdown, Yin said. Labor-intensive industries have been gradually moving to the central and western areas from eastern coastal regions, as part of the country's efforts to upgrade its industries. However, experts are warning that job cuts may be inevitable if external demand remains sluggish. |
| Road in a rush after students risk their lives Posted: 25 Jul 2012 09:16 AM PDT WORKERS are rushing to build a road to connect an isolated village with a major highway in northwest China's Gansu Province after pictures were posted online showing students holding on to a rope to cross a fast-flowing river, arousing concern for their safety. The 5-meter wide road, suitable for motor vehicles, will connect with the mountainous village of Shichuanba, in about 20 days, the local government said. Earlier this month, villagers uploaded photos of students climbing along a rope to cross the river, saying they had to use this dangerous route to go to school because their only bridge had been destroyed by floods two years ago. The posts, which accused the local government of failing to honor its commitment to build a new bridge, attracted media attention and sparked widespread anger at the government's lack of action and concern for the students' safety. The original bridge was financed and built by villagers in 2009. It was destroyed in August 2010 by the torrential rains that triggered the Zhouqu mudslides about 120 kilometers upstream on the Bailongjiang River. More than 1,430 people died in the mudslides and 331 others were reported missing. After the bridge was destroyed, some villagers looking for a more convenient transportation route came up with the risky rope solution. An official with the government of Wenxian County, which administers the village, said the villagers did not necessarily need to use the rope to reach the main road, most villagers walked 30 minutes to another bridge. The new road, which is costing 35,000 yuan (US$5,800), will greatly reduce travel time to the main road, as villagers will be able to use motor vehicles, said Wang Jinliang, Party chief of the town of Sheshu, which administers the village. Currently the village has just one small pedestrian track. The local government could not currently afford a new bridge, which is estimated to cost 2.6 million yuan, Wang said. However, a new bridge is in the county's plan. Wenxian still has 10 villages of 298 communities that do not have driveable roads. Transport has always posed difficulties in the mountainous area, and has hindered development of the local economy, said Shang Qiwen, director of the county's poverty relief office. Shang said 60 percent of Wenxian's 210,000 rural residents lived below the national poverty line, and most live deep in the mountains where means of transportation are poor. |
| Patient on trial over fatal attack on hospital doctor Posted: 25 Jul 2012 09:16 AM PDT A MAN charged with murdering a doctor and injuring three others at a hospital in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, went on trial at the city's intermediate people's court yesterday. The court heard that Wang Hao, a 28-year-old intern, died when 17-year-old Li Mengnan broke into the office of the rheumatism immunity department of the No. 1 Hospital affiliated to Harbin Medical University and cut him on the neck with a knife. Three other doctors were injured during the attack, the court heard. The court was told that Li told an earlier investigation that he held a grudge about his medical treatment at the hospital and carried out the attack in revenge. Li was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, a form of arthritis which most often affects the spine, and stayed in the hospital for a week in April 2011. In March this year, Li visited the hospital for a review and asked for a specific drug, Remicade. But Zhao Yanping, Li's doctor and deputy chief of the department, said Li's tuberculosis need to be treated first as the drug would have side-effects on his lungs. Li thought this meant Zhao didn't want to handle his case and, angered at this, bought a knife, went back to the hospital and attacked the doctors, the court heard. "I came to the hospital for the purpose of getting Remicade treatment, but they didn't give it to me," Li told Xinhua news agency before yesterday's hearing. During the court proceedings, Wang's parents asked for compensation of 864,400 yuan (US$135,292). Prosecutors didn't call for a specific sentence but said that Li, if found guilty, could receive a lighter sentence since he was 17 at the time of the alleged offense. Li celebrated his 18th birthday in detention in May. The court didn't announce a verdict in the case yesterday. |
| China’s Newest City Raises Threat of Conflict in South China Sea Posted: 25 Jul 2012 10:05 AM PDT  Source: Time By Austin Ramzy China has declared its establishment of a municipal settlement on a disputed island chain in the South China Sea. The move, combined with an earlier announcement about the islands' militarization, further raises tensions in this geopolitical hot spot. China and Taiwan both claim almost all of the 3 million-sq-km South China Sea, and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei have partial claims. All except Brunei occupy disputed islands and reefs in the sea. The possibility of rich, undersea oil and gas resources has led to increasing conflict between the neighboring states, and analysts say China's new city will only worsen the disputes. "All trends are in the wrong direction," says Ian Storey, a senior fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore. "The claimant countries have hardened their positions on jurisdictional claims. That's made a legal resolution or a negotiated settlement harder because there's less room for compromise." The dispute roiled the Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign-ministers meeting in Cambodia that took place July 9–13. It failed to agree on a concluding joint statement for the first time since the group was founded in 1967. While the Philippines and Vietnam pushed for adding the South China Sea standoff to the statement, China's ally Cambodia balked at including the issue, which China says it wants to resolve in bilateral discussions with each claimant rather than in a multilateral forum. In April, the Philippines' largest warship, the World War II–era frigate Rajah Humabon, confronted Chinese fishing boats it accused of harvesting endangered species near the Scarborough Shoal, which China calls Huangyan Island and the Philippines the Bajo de Masinloc. China sent marine surveillance vessels, and the Philippines soon replaced its warship with coast-guard craft, resulting in a standoff that still festers. The Philippines says it recalled its ships, but Chinese vessels remain near the shoal. "If someone entered your yard and told you he owned it, would you agree?" Philippine President Benigno Aquino said in his annual state of the nation address on Monday. "Would it be right to give away that which is rightfully ours?" Many Southeast Asian states are beefing up their armed forces in response to China's new assertiveness. Last year the military budget for the Philippines, one of the weakest military powers in Asia, nearly doubled. That means increased risk in the South China Sea, according to a report released Tuesday by the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank. "While increased military power is likely to raise the threshold for, as well as cost of, armed conflict, it could also embolden countries to be more pro-active in their territorial claims, making skirmishes harder to resolve," the report said. "There is a risk that in seeking to flex their military muscle, claimant states will engage in brinkmanship that could lead to unintentional escalation." The Philippines and Vietnam both protested China's creation of Sansha. China announced the move on the same day that Vietnam issued a law declaring the Paracels and Spratlys to be in its jurisdiction. China, which took control of the Paracels after a brief war with South Vietnam in 1974, established Sansha's government on the largest Paracel isle, Woody Island. Also known as Yongxing in Chinese, the island has a grocery store, hospital, library and karaoke parlor but as yet no kindergarten, according to reports of Chinese journalists who have visited. Yongxing will likely be the headquarters of a new PLA garrison, though few details have been revealed. "This pronouncement of a garrison is symbolic," says Rory Medcalf, director of the international security program at the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney. "It may take a long time to operationalize, but it is placing a firm military marker on China's claim in the South China Sea." The disputing parties have often used paramilitary and civilian forces such as coast guard and fisheries enforcement agencies to defend their territorial claims. The move to establish a Sansha garrison, though, is a sign of the growing reliance on hard power. Another indicator was the July 11 grounding of a Chinese navy frigate on Half Moon Shoal, which is claimed by both China and the Philippines. Perhaps more surprising than the initial presence of the Chinese navy ship just 100 km off the Philippines' Palawan province was the speed with which it received assistance from its compatriots. "In about 24 hours they got five ships, including a tugboat, to Half Moon Shoal, and that's quite a way from China," says Storey. "That goes back to the point of increasing militarization. These warships were clearly on patrol or somewhere in the area." For now, the most significant impact of Sansha may be to increase the importance of the conflict for average Chinese citizens. In recent weeks Chinese media have run personalized stories of reporters visiting the islands. "Both the city and the garrison unfortunately raise the emotional stakes for Chinese people," says Medcalf. "That makes compromise even harder." |
| Spring cleaning in China Chongqing after Bo Xilai Posted: 25 Jul 2012 09:36 AM PDT  Source: Market Watch By Deng Hai | Photo: Reuters CHONGQING ( Caixin Online ) — For close observers of the Chongqing municipal government, it's still hard to tell whether the government's latest announcements signal the end of days for five years of Bo Xilai's policies or simply a new beginning. On June 8, the Chongqing government issued a policy to open up the private sector by relieving companies of 15 types of government fees. In addition to this, the government announced it would allocate an annual 2 billion yuan ($313.5 million) in funds to support the expansion of the private sector. The full range of these efforts is aimed at a target of bringing the private sector proportion of Chongqing's gross domestic product to 65% by 2015. In 2011, the private sector's contribution to GDP was 61.7%. On the property law front, the Chongqing Municipal Bureau of Justice and Federation of Industry and Commerce signed an agreement July 3 to form a team of specialized lawyers to provide legal aid for private companies. At the helm of these new policies is Zhang Dejiang, the newly-appointed secretary of Chongqing Municipal Party Committee after Bo was sacked from the post. Zhang's work report at the opening of the 4th Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Chongqing Municipal Committee June 18 stated the downfall of Bo and the ensuing scandal blighted the successes of the municipality's development. At the same meeting, Zhang said the municipality would strive to achieve moderately wealthy income levels among China's western region by 2017. The revision was viewed by analysts to signal the adoption of a more "realistic" goal. In comparison, Bo had called for achieving this goal by 2015. Under Bo's leadership, the Chongqing government had called for an average annual GDP growth of around 15%, positioning itself in the stages of rapid economic development. However, Zhang stressed that Chongqing still has a relatively large wealth gap with 2 million rural poor. According to statistics from the Chongqing Municipal government, Chongqing's current economic development mode is still relatively strong, with economic growth mainly driven by investment and an expanding manufacturing sector. Fixed-asset investment in the municipality in 2011 accounted for 76.2% of Chongqing's GDP. Meanwhile, various urban construction companies continue to lead in fixed-asset investment. Experts, however, say this trend could be slowing on high debt loads at these companies. A source at a local loan guarantee company said urban investment companies in some districts and counties have been unable to pay interest on their loans. In May, Chongqing and the China Development Bank signed a memorandum of cooperation after Zhang took office. A number of urban investment companies in Chongqing obtained financing agreements, but no specific amounts were publicly announced. In addition, Chongqing has spent more than 33 billion yuan /quotes/zigman/4869230/sampled USDCNY +0.0219% to plant trees in the past three years. A municipal government official told Caixin that this year's greening projects will select tree species that are more suitable to Chongqing. The city's cultural life is set to get a boost in funds for the government — with a decided move toward introducing investment from the private sector. At the June 18 meeting, officials said the government must reverse the use of "one model" in developing the culture industry. That one model referred to years of media outlets hamstrung by government mandates. Back in March 2011, Chongqing TV was put under heavy government restrictions, including the suspension advertising commercials, a reduction in the number of TV programs and orders to increase the number of news and public service announcements. Led by Bo's initiatives, the station later rolled out programs featuring the singing of Maoist-revival "Red Songs" and the reading of revolutionary-era classics. The recent policy announcements has allowed Chongqing TV, which saw the suspension of its advertising for more than a year, to state that the company will resume advertising from the private sector in August. But a turnaround in the administration of law is murkier. In the past, the number of forced demolitions was reportedly on the rise due to the large-scale, rapid construction of public housing. On June 19, the Chongqing Daily reported a statement by Zhang that Chongqing should do everything according to the government's abilities under the law and promote the wellbeing of the common people. In the first half of this year, the Chongqing police announced it closed a total of 77,000 cases, an increase of 21.7% over the same period the previous year. He Tingqiang, deputy mayor and head of the Chongqing Public Security Bureau, newly appointed after Wang Lijun was sacked, said March 27 that the municipality would adhere unswervingly to a crackdown on organized crime.   |
| China Names Acting Beijing Mayor as City Tackles Flood Aftermath Posted: 25 Jul 2012 09:40 AM PDT  Source: Bloomberg News China appointed Wang Anshun acting mayor of Beijing after his predecessor was promoted to lead the city's Communist Party committee, as authorities cope with the aftermath of flooding that killed at least 37 people. Among Wang's first tasks will be addressing public anger over the government response to the flooding, which occurred after the heaviest rainstorms in more than 60 years hit the city on July 21. Authorities issued a new alert today warning that more rain was forecast for the capital tonight. Users of Chinese microblog services accused the government of hiding the actual death toll from the floods and neglecting the city's outdated sewer systems. On July 23, the state-run Global Times newspaper said the casualties had revealed the vulnerability of Beijing's drainage infrastructure. In a media briefing yesterday, Wang Hui, the director of the Beijing government news department, denied a cover-up. She said the most important task in the coming days would be to confirm the casualty toll and identify the victims. On July 23, the Communist Party's Beijing branch ordered media to highlight "heroic and moving stories" that emerged from flooding, the city's official Beijing Daily said yesterday. 'Generous Quality' The story quoted Guo as praising Communist cadres for "their dedication, generous quality, and serious and responsible work" in the flood-relief efforts. "We don't even need to tell them to do that," Wang Hui said at the media briefing yesterday. "A lot of media are reporting that on their own." The weekend flood caused about 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) in damage, according to the China Daily newspaper. Heavy rains have battered provinces across the country. Chinese authorities reported that water flow into the reservoir above the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River reached a record 71,200 cubic meters per second yesterday, according to the Xinhua News Agency.   |
| China Investment Corp. Reduces Holdings of Public Securities Posted: 25 Jul 2012 09:51 AM PDT  Source: Wall Street Journal By Lingling Wei China Investment Corp., which posted a 4.3% loss on its global portfolio last year, has significantly reduced its holdings of public securities and accelerated a push into longer-term investments as the $482 billion sovereign-wealth fund seeks to shield itself from short-term market swings. The report reflects a delicate balance that the fund, which was created in 2007 to boost returns on China's $3.2 trillion foreign-exchange reserves, is trying to strike. It is positioning itself as a long-term investor, with a 10-year horizon, even as its year-to-year results are closely scrutinized by the Chinese public, which sees the foreign-exchange reserves as a national asset sometimes called "xue han qian," or the blood and sweat of the nation's workers. CIC's report was the first time the fund had disclosed its results for 2011. The negative 4.3% return on its investments, which came in a year when global markets were broadly lower, was the worst annual result since the fund's inception. CIC said it views "a rolling 10-year annualized return" as a major measure of performance. It has booked a 3.8% annualized return on its global portfolio since 2007. The fund's assets stood at $482 billion as of the end of last year, including a $30 billion infusion from the Chinese government in December. Among other assets, CIC said Wednesday that 21% of its overseas holdings were in fixed-income securities, with 11% in cash. In early 2011, CIC's board extended the fund's investment horizon to 10 years from five years. Subsequently, the fund "bolstered our portfolios against market shocks," CIC Chairman and Chief Executive Lou Jiwei said in the report. "We gradually built up positions in nonpublic market assets, particularly direct investments and private equity investments in such industries as energy, resources, real estate and infrastructure." CIC has spent billions of dollars on energy and natural resources since 2009, as it expects the industry to benefit from China's economic growth and demand for energy. So far, it has mainly made the investments through buying stakes in energy and resource companies. CIC's investments in those areas include $3.15 billion in French utility GDF Suez's exploration and production division; $1.5 billion in Teck Resources, TCK -4.76%a Vancouver-based metals and mining company; $1.6 billion in AES Corp., a Virginia-based power company; and $500 million in SouthGobi Energy Resources Ltd., a Canadian mining company with operations in Mongolia. But that sector has been volatile, with some of CIC's holdings in the area falling below the prices the fund first paid for the stakes. What's more, a slowdown in China's economic growth threatens to hurt the fortunes of the industry, at least in the near term. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal in June, Mr. Lou said the energy sector's "cyclical volatility" poses a risk to the performance of CIC, which reports the value of its assets by market price. "This may create certain pressure on our short-term performance," he said at the time. "So on one hand, we're interested in the energy space; on the other hand, we have to carefully select the kind of opportunities to invest in." Singapore's sovereign-wealth fund, Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd., also said it has invested more in energy and resource producers. In addition, CIC has adopted a more direct investment approach of co-investing with—rather than investing through—third-party fund managers, a move that could allow the fund more influence over companies it holds and potentially give it greater financial gain down the road. For instance, CIC has decided to provide $200 million for a fund led by BlackRock Inc. to invest in Chinese companies seeking to make acquisitions overseas, according to people directly involved in the fund. "That figure could be incrementally increased if the fund's capital raising gets to certain level," one of the people said. Late last year, CIC also backed a technology-focused fund, called WestSummit Capital Fund, with $210 million. The fund intends to capitalize on "the significant market opportunity for growth capital investments" in China's burgeoning technology markets, according to the fund's documents reviewed by the Journal.   |
| LME Members Approve Acquisition by Hong Kong Exchanges Posted: 25 Jul 2012 09:47 AM PDT  Source: Wall Street Journal By Francesca Freeman LONDON—Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd. has secured approval from London Metal Exchange shareholders to acquire the exchange, the LME said Wednesday. The allure of improved access to Asia, particularly the world's biggest consumer of metals, China, was particularly important to the LME's original decision to pick Hong Kong Exchanges as its preferred bidder, following an auction process lasting several months. Hong Kong Exchanges fought off tough competition from a number of other industry players to finally secure its position as preferred bidder last month. Both CME Group Inc. and NYSE Liffe, the London-based derivatives arm of NYSE Euronext, were eliminated from the bidding process in May. IntercontinentalExchanges Inc. was knocked out of the frame in the final stage. Hong Kong Exchanges has said it would support the development of the LME's own clearing house, LME Clear, which is designed specifically to meet the needs of the London exchange's members. Hong Kong Exchanges also said it plans to support the LME in expanding its warehouse network in Asia, increase the number of mainland Chinese participants and clients, and enhance market-data distribution and connectivity into Asia. Hong Kong Exchange, meanwhile, plans to retain the LME's existing business model. This includes open-outcry trading in the ring, daily prompt-date contracts, membership structure and capacity for warehousing and physical delivery. Hong Kong Exchanges won't increase fees for contracts currently traded on the LME before Jan. 1, 2015. The LME will remain based in London as a regulated investment exchange, under supervision of the Financial Services Authority. The current LME Chief Executive, Martin Abbott, will stay on after the deal closes and most of the management team will remain in place.   |
| Shell ups China presence with CNOOC tie-up Posted: 25 Jul 2012 09:55 AM PDT  Source: Reuters (Reuters) – Oil major Shell (RDSa.L) sealed an exploration tie-up with China's state-run oil firm CNOOC (0883.HK) on Wednesday in a move which will help secure longer term growth from projects in the world's energy-hungry second largest economy. Shell already operates a gas field in central China, in the Changbei block, and said it would seek to increase production on that block through a separate amended agreement with state-run CNPC, where it is partnered with CNPC's listed arm PetroChina (0857.HK). "These new projects in partnership with Chinese companies are the latest showcase of our China strategy to work with our Chinese counterparts both in China and globally to help meet the country's energy needs to fuel its fast growing economy," Lim Haw-Kuang, executive chairman of Shell Companies in China said in a statement. Chinese oil companies have been aggressive in targeting assets around the globe to help feed the country's energy demand while also pushing to develop its own resources, including shale gas. "This is really part of the Shell strategy of building a pipeline of medium and long term growth options. It's clearly good news from a long term perspective," Societe Generale analyst Irene Himona said. Shell is one of the few international oil firms to operate an onshore gas field in China, where production is dominated by PetroChina and Sinopec (0386.HK) (600028.SS). Apart from the Changbei venture, Shell signed a deal with CNPC to develop a shale gas block in China earlier this year in the first deal of its kind in the country. Shell, which last operated offshore China 10 years ago, said that it would own a 100 percent stake in the Chinese offshore licenses during the exploration phase but this stake would be reduced should they be developed. In Gabon, CNOOC will acquire a 25 percent stake in two of Shell's licenses, it said, in a move which reflects CNOOC's push for exposure to deepwater acreage. |
| Posted: 25 Jul 2012 10:06 AM PDT Have You Heard…   |
| Chinese 'jailed' over HK protests Posted: 25 Jul 2012 05:30 AM PDT Officials sentence two activists from mainland China to labour camp terms for joining Hong Kong's annual pro-democracy protests, reports say. |
| Rising tide of criticism after deadly China floods Posted: 25 Jul 2012 02:49 AM PDT Beijing residents want answers on death tolls and damage in the wake of the weekend floods, writes the BBC's Martin Patience. |
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| Frenchman linked to Bo in 'good shape' Posted: 25 Jul 2012 02:59 AM PDT |
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