CNOOC Ltd, China's biggest offshore oil producer, said yesterday that overseas acquisitions were not the main driver of future growth.
The company will rely on existing businesses as its growth engine while overseas asset purchases and takeovers are just one aspect of the overall strategy, Chairman Fu Chengyu said after the annual general meeting in Hong Kong.
In 2005, CNOOC's US$18.5-billion bid for Unocal Corp failed after it was opposed by politicians in the United States.
The oil producer is in talks with Talisman Energy for an asset purchase or a takeover, the South China Morning Post reported on Monday.
Talisman plans to raise as much as US$2 billion from the sale of assets by the end of next year, the report said. The sales will focus on oil and gas blocks in the North Sea, Australia and Denmark.
China National Offshore Oil Corp, parent of Hong Kong-listed CNOOC, last month signed an agreement to import 2 million metric tons of liquefied natural gas a year from Qatar under a 25-year contract, Fu said. The fuel will meet the needs of the eastern province of Zhejiang and other coastal areas, he said.
CNOOC will drill six deepwater wells in the second half of this year, Fu said. In 2006, the company and partner Husky Energy discovered a gas field in China's Pearl River Delta that may prove to be China's largest offshore deposit, Bloomberg News said.