【英语国际】美国天然气公司欲携手中国石油巨头

Natural-gas company Chesapeake Energy Corp. is looking to partner with Asian oil companies to invest in its multibillion-dollar U.S. gas projects.

Chesapeake, one of the pioneers in opening up vast new reserves of natural gas in the U.S., has been talking to Chinese oil firms about buying as much as 20% of its Eagle Ford field in Texas, Chief Financial Officer Marcus Rowland said Thursday in Beijing. He estimated the total cost of the project could be $4 billion.

Chesapeake is also talking to Asian investors about buying as much as a 10% stake in the Marcellus shale-gas field in the Eastern U.S.

Mr. Rowland didn't specify in which other Asian countries Chesapeake is seeking partners. He said Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake hopes to announce a deal before the end of the year. Any deal with a Chinese company would likely involve training Chinese oil engineers, he said.

China is keen to replicate the dramatic increases in U.S. domestic natural-gas reserves that have come from tapping unconventional supplies such as shale and coal-seam gas, analysts say. Those efforts have reshaped global energy markets and sharply reduced U.S. reliance on gas imports. Chinese energy companies have been investing in unconventional gas overseas to study how to develop their own reserves back home.

Chinese state-owned oil companies and officials also are looking to reduce China's dependence on imports of natural gas, a cleaner-burning alternative to the coal that is China's primary energy source.

Until the recent flurry of activity in North America, China's big oil companies have ignored domestic unconventional natural-gas supplies and focused on traditional domestic gas fields and ramping up imports to meet growing demand.

China is committed to long-term contracts for much of that gas at prices that might be higher than what companies might have to pay for domestic shale gas.

But China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., China's second-biggest oil company, has set up its first specialized team to develop domestic shale-gas resources. China's biggest oil company, China National Petroleum Corp., has been pursuing deals overseas in shale gas and other types of unconventional gas supplies.

China National Petroleum is talking to Canadian shale-gas company Encana Corp. about possibly jointly investing in Canadian shale-gas reserves. The Chinese oil company's listed unit, PetroChina Co., along with Royal Dutch Shell PLC, bought Arrow Energy, an Australian producer of coal-seam gas.

Chinese oil companies in general have been reluctant to invest in the U.S. ever since Chinese offshore-oil company Cnooc Ltd. was thwarted in its 2005 bid to take over California-based Unocal Corp. -- now owned by Chevron Corp. -- by strong political opposition. If Chesapeake were to secure Chinese investment for a substantial stake in an onshore U.S. energy asset, it could face political resistance, but a success could mark a turning point for such investments.

Last month, Chesapeake announced it had sold some $1.7 billion in preferred stock to a group of private investors, including sovereign wealth funds China Investment Corp., Korea Investment Corp. and Singapore's Temasek Holdings.

Mr. Rowland said the stock sale was to raise capital and get introductions to more possible strategic investors, including Chinese oil companies and commercial banks. Chesapeake needs cash to repay $12 billion in debt and to fund continued ambitious expansion plans.

Shai Oster

美国天然气公司切萨皮克(Chesapeake Energy Corp.)正在寻求与亚洲石油公司合伙投资其数十亿美元的美国天然气工程。

切萨皮克是开发美国庞大的天然气新储备的先行者之一，公司首席财务长罗兰德(Marcus Rowland)周四在北京说，该公司正在与中国多家石油公司，就其位于德克萨斯的伊格尔福特(Eagle Ford)气田高达20%股份的购买事宜进行商洽。罗兰德估计该项工程总成本达40亿美元。

切萨皮克同时也与亚洲投资者在商谈美国东部马赛拉斯(Marcellus)页岩气田最高10%股份的购买事宜。

罗兰德并未具体指明在亚洲其它哪些国家寻求合伙人。他说，总部设在俄克拉荷马城的切萨皮克希望在年底前宣布一项交易。他还说，与中国公司达成的任何交易将可能包括为中方石油工程师提供培训。

分析人士说，中国急于象美国一样通过开发非常规的页岩气及煤层气使国内天然气储备大幅增长。这些举措使全球能源市场产生新局面，并大大降低了美国对天然气进口的依赖。中国的能源公司一直在向海外非常规天然气田进行投资，以研究如何开发国内的天然气储备。

中国国有石油公司及官员们也希望减少中国对天然气进口的依赖，天然气是种清洁能源，可作中国头号能源煤炭的替代品。

在北美掀起天然气开发潮之前，中国的大型石油公司一直未重视国内非常规天然气的开发，而主要以传统的国内天然气田开采及增加进口来满足不断增长的需求。

中国签定了不少长期合约大量购买天然气，而合约价格可能高于购买国内页岩气的价格。

但中国第二大石油公司中国石油化工股份有限公司(China Petroleum & Chemical Corp)已成立首个专业团队来开发国内页岩气资源。中国最大的石油公司中国石油天然气集团公司(China National Petroleum Corp.，简称中国石油集团)一直在寻求海外页岩气交易及其它种类的非常规天然气供应。

中国石油集团正在与加拿大页岩气公司Encana Corp.洽谈合作投资加拿大页岩气储备开发事宜。中国石油集团的上市公司中石油(PetroChina Co.)与荷兰皇家壳牌有限公司(Royal Dutch Shell PLC)共同购买了澳大利亚煤层气开发公司Arrow Energy。

自从中国海洋石油有限公司(CNOOC Ltd.)2005年竞标收购现属雪佛龙公司(Chevron Corp.)的加州联合石油公司(Unocal Corp.)，遭遇强大的政治阻力而受挫后，中国的石油公司普遍不愿意在美国投资。如果切萨皮克要在一项美国在岸能源资产中确保中国的大份额投资，则可能面临政治阻力；但若取得成功，则意味着此类投资出现一个转折点。

上个月，切萨皮克宣布已向一批私募投资者出售了价值约17亿美元的优先股，包括主权财富基金中投公司(China Investment Corp.)、韩国主权财富基金Korea Investment Corp.以及新加坡国有投资公司淡马锡控股(Temasek Holdings)。

罗兰德说，出售股份是要募集资本并引入更多可能的战略投资者，包括中国的石油公司及商业银行。切萨皮克需要现金以偿还120亿美元的债务，并为继续进行野心勃勃的扩张计划提供资金。

Shai Oster