Sinopec, China's second largest oil producer, and Taiwan's government-controlled energy giant CPC Corporation have agreed to jointly explore a gas block off northern Australia, state media said Thursday. This is the second time the companies have tied up to explore overseas energy blocks, amid rapidly improving ties between China and Taiwan, the China Daily reported, citing a statement by the Chinese company.
Sinopec will sell CPC a 40-percent stake in its NT/P76 block in the Bonaparte basin, around 330 kilometres (205 miles) from Darwin, the paper said. No financial details were released in the statement, which was posted on Sinopec's website on Wednesday. The block has geological gas reserves of 390 billion cubic metres (13 trillion cubic feet), the statement said. "Geological gas reserves" are a rough forecast of reserves and only serve as a reference for exploration planning.
In 2004, the firms separately bought stakes in another gas and oil block in Australia from Italy's top oil company Eni SpA and have since "built the foundation for co-operation of mutual trust", the statement added. China and Taiwan have been governed separately since they split at the end of a civil war in 1949, but China views the island as part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary. Taiwanese officials have said trade links between the two sides will strengthen further as relations have improved since President Ma Ying-jeou of the China-friendly Kuomintang came to power in 2008.