Oil major improving local lives
CNPC’s cooperation with countries in Africa has helped nurture talent
China National Petroleum Corp, the country’s biggest oil and gas company, has been supporting industrialization in resourcerich countries in Africa by conducting petroleum exploration and development, long-distance pipeline construction and oil refining over the past two decades.
The company has set up a series of advanced upstream and downstream petroleum industrial systems in countries including Sudan, Nigeria, Tunisia, Niger, Chad, Mozambique and Algeria, bringing substantial changes to the lives of local people.
The oil and gas cooperation with countries in Africa has also helped to nurture local talent in the fields of petroleum exploration and development, oil refining and chemical engineering, as more than 80 percent of CNPC’s employees in Africa are locals, it said.
In South Sudan, from 2016 to 2018, CNPC provided short-term training, lasting 15 days, in technology and management for 60 people to nurture petroleum talents.
In 2017, the company also provided three sessions of short-term training, the topics of which were petroleum economy, management of oil reservoirs and petroleum geology, according to CNPC’s 2017 corporate social responsibility report.
After more than two decades of development, CNPC now has oil and gas assets and interests in Africa while also providing oilfield services.
After signing an agreement with the government of Sudan for oil and gas exploration and development in 1995, CNPC has helped Sudan established a series of modern and advanced upstream and downstream industrial systems covering oil exploration and development, ground construction, longdistance pipeline transportation, petroleum refining and petrochemical engineering.
Africa, with its significant reserves and increasing yields, has become a major destination for China’s oil and gas companies as they expand their overseas footprints.
While investment in Africa by Chinese companies is small compared with their Western counterparts, it looks set to grow.
Li Li, energy research director at ICIS China, a consulting firm focusing on China’s energy market, said with more oil being discovered in Africa and the relationship between China and Africa thriving, there is going to be more cooperation.
CNPC has also vowed to improve local livelihoods while conducting projects in African countries. It has financed hospitals and schools, donated medical and school supplies and funded free vaccinations for local residents.
The company now has 93 oil and gas projects covering more than 35 countries and over 1,200 engineering service teams providing construction and technical services in more than 60 countries. Its international business and trade covers more than 80 countries and regions.
At the end of 2017, CNPC had an overseas equity oil yield of more than 89 million metric tons, 15,000 kilometers of oil and gas pipelines, an annual oil transportation capacity of 85.5 million tons and an annual gas transportation capacity of 67.4 billion cubic meters.
The company booked a 7.3 percent increase in its equity oil and gas production overseas during the first half of the year, with a substantial increase from overseas production projects in terms of profits.