COOEC, the offshore arm of China's state-owned oil firm CNOOC, is looking for Norwegian partners to strengthen its position in deepwater drilling world-wide, a senior COOEC executive told Reuters. Jeffrey Gu, general manager at COOEC, said in an interview on Thursday that his company was seeking to tap into Norwegian companies' knowledge of subsea and deepwater technology.
"Our strategy is to develop ourselves in this field (deepwater drilling), so we need to have access to Norwegian firms' skills," Gu said on the sidelines of an oil and gas conference. "We are in Norway to look for partners that can work with us on our deepwater projects both in China and in other places." The executive said COOEC was planning significant investments in deepwater drilling.
"Over the next few years we plan to invest heavily in offshore installations and capacity in subsea. Before, we focused mainly on investing in China, but now we want to expand the company abroad," Gu said. The executive said China should be an attractive destination for Norwegian oil service firms such as Subsea 7 and Acergy.
"I think the Chinese market will be a good opportunity for many Norwegian companies such as Subsea 7, Acergy and others in the same segment," says Gu, adding that he looked favourably on the recent merger between Subsea 7 and Acergy. "They operate in a high-risk market with big challenges. If they combine their capacities, it is good for them and it will give them a good position." Chinese companies have made several acquisitions in recent years, and Gu does not rule out the possibility they will continue.
"Chinese firms are very open to discuss such possibilities," Gu said. "On many occasions we prefer to work together with companies, but we are open to discuss different solutions if there are interesting companies."
CNOOC is not pre-qualified by Norwegian authorities to apply for oil and gas licenses offshore Norway, but Gu says it is possible the company may look to establish itself off the Nordic country in the years to come. "If it were possible to establish ourselves on the Norwegian continental shelf, clearly we would be interested. For the moment we can't, but if good opportunities arise, and if Norwegian authorities are positive to foreign companies working on the shelf, this may be a good opportunity for our company." "We prefer working with companies such as Statoil and others that have experience in this area."