PetroChina, the country's dominant oil and gas producer which also owns refineries, has earmarked close to $16 billion for overseas investment this year as it aims to have half its production outside China within 8 years.
The state-controlled oil giant, whose overseas output accounted for less than a tenth of its total production in January-June, will spend more than 100 billion yuan on overseas exploration, acquisitions and joint ventures with international oil companies this year, Vice Chairman and President Zhou Jiping told reporters on August 23.
"Overseas development is a significant strategy for PetroChina. We will continue to accelerate our overseas investment," he said.
The amount planned for overseas spending is around the same as what China's leading offshore oil producer CNOOC Ltd has agreed to pay for Canadian oil firm Nexen Inc.
PetroChina has not made any major overseas acquisitions this year, but will be able to meet its target of having half its total output abroad in 5-8 years, Zhou said, adding the company is "actively" looking for acquisition opportunities in Central Asia, East Africa, Australia and Canada.
"Under the tough global macroeconomic environment, many companies are reorganising their assets, which at the same time has brought many opportunities," Zhou said, without elaborating.
Some international oil companies such as ConocoPhillips have been divesting assets in a number of countries including Canada and Nigeria as part of that global asset reassessment, drawing interest from Asian buyers.
PetroChina posted a drop of more than a fifth in its second-quarter earnings, hit by refining and chemicals losses. Global crude oil prices also fell during the second quarter.
April-June net profit fell to 22.83 billion yuan ($3.59 billion) from 29 billion yuan a year earlier, based on Reuters' calculations, and lagged an average forecast of 26.73 billion yuan by 8 analysts polled by Reuters.