China's CNPC, Cuba's Cupet ink pact to expand oil cooperation

China's CNPC, Cuba's Cupet ink pact to expand oil cooperation
Singapore (Platts)--8Jun2011/254 am EDT/654 GMT

China's state-owned China National Development Corp and Cuba's national
oil company, Cupet, have signed a framework agreement in Havana to
expand oil cooperation, CNPC said Wednesday.

Under the agreement signed on Sunday, CNPC will draw on its expertise in
oil and gas exploration and development, engineering services and
logistics to assist Cuba to lower operational costs, raise crude oil
output and oil recovery, according to a report in the company's
newsletter, China Petroleum Daily. The agreement was signed by CNPC
General Manager Jiang Jiemin and Cupet President Raul Peres, and
witnessed by Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping and head of the Cuban
State Council Raul Castro.

In late 2010, CNPC won a deal to expand a Cuban oil refinery owned by
Cupet and Venezuela's PDVSA from 65,000 b/d to 150,000 b/d. Huanqiu
Contracting and Engineering Corporation, a unit of CNPC, was to manage
the project, to be financed largely by Chinese banks and backed by
guarantees from Venezuelan oil revenues, according to earlier reports.

Meanwhile, Great Wall Drilling Co., another subsidiary of CNPC, has been
working with Cuban oil companies to provide drilling services in the
region, the China Daily reported.

Since August 2005, GWDC has drilled 63 wells along the coast from Havana
to Varadero, of which 31 are contracted with Cupet, and the rest with
other Cuban oil companies. Total output of oil and natural gas from
these wells has reached 13 million barrels of oil equivalent, the report
said.

--Calvin Lee, calvin_lee@platts.com

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