Crude imports up 16.5% in October
THE country’s crude oil imports in October totaled 12.61 million tons, or 2.98 million barrels a day, up 16.5 percent from the same period last year, preliminary data from the customs showed Monday.
Crude oil imports for the January to October period rose 13.8 percent year on year to 136.7 million tons, or 3.3 million barrels a day. Crude oil exports from January to October fell 42.8 percent year on year to 2.91 million tons, or 70,165 barrels a day, the data showed.
Foreign investment rises 14 percent
FOREIGN investment in China rose 14 percent in October from a year ago to US$67.8 billion, the government said yesterday.
That brought total foreign investment for the first 10 months of this year to US$539.9 billion, an 11.5 percent increase over the same period last year, the Ministry of Commerce reported. China has long been one of the world’s largest recipients of foreign investment. The figure has climbed steadily despite recent government curbs on industries such as auto manufacturing and textiles.
CNPC, Malaysia firm to tap oil block
CHINA National Petroleum Corp., the parent of PetroChina, has signed a rare upstream deal with a foreign firm to develop an oil block in northeastern Jilin Province, a company paper reported yesterday.
The Fuyu Block 1 in Songliao Basin covers 254.9 square kilometers, and contained heavy oil reserves that were difficult to tap, reported the China Petroleum Daily. The deal was the first onshore project in China for the Malaysian company, Rimbunan Hijau Group, which also had oil business in Myanmar, the report said. It did not provide any reserve figures or details of the contract.
Zhaojin to invest in Australia or Canada
GOLD miner Zhaojin Mining Industry Co. was planning to invest in gold mines in Canada or Australia, it’s chairman, Lu Dongshang, told reporters yesterday.
The company was in talks to invest in mining projects or potentially buy into gold mining companies in the two countries, he said but declined to identify them. It had no plans to invest in metals other than gold, unlike rival Zijin Mining Group Co. Ltd., which led a consortium to take over Peruvian copper miner Monterrico Metals Plc. this year.
