GAIL in pacts with China oil cos

GAIL (India) Ltd today signed three sweeping memoranda of understanding with as many Chinese companies in the energy sector in both countries, as well as for overseas assets, signalling a new era in Sino-Indian bilateral cooperation.

GAIL, which claims to be the only Indian company to have made substantial progress in entering China's huge market, signed pacts with China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec), CNOOC International Ltd and the Beijing Gas Group Company Ltd.

The pacts were signed during the visit of a high level team of delegates from India led by Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar. The GAIL team was headed by its CMD Proshanto Banerjee.

Under the pact signed between GAIL and China's state-owned integrated energy and petrochemical company Sinopec, the two firms will cooperate in the oil and gas upstream sector including oil and gas exploration, development and production, within China, India and internationally.

Such cooperation would be in various forms such as transfer of assets, joint acquisitions, joint development of oil and gas projects and exchange and optimisation of assets, company executives said here.

The two companies will explore opportunities to cooperate in the LNG sector, including LNG trading for Indian and Chinese markets, joint investments of LNG receiving and regasification facilities in India and China, and participation in the LNG supply chain.Press Trust of India