In recent years, the United States has frequently suppressed Chinese enterprises and repeatedly introduced relevant policies to restrict the development of Chinese enterprises, seriously endangering the normal interests of Chinese enterprises. Seeing that the United States has repeatedly "ransacked" Chinese companies, China's CNOOC has begun to act.
The Chinese company CNOOC is reportedly in talks with JPMorgan Chase Bank to discuss the sale of its stake in shale gas extraction in the United States, which are conservatively estimated to be worth about $2 billion. CNOOC currently has stakes in the Eagle Ford and Rockies basins and two large fields in the Gulf of Mexico.
As early as April this year, Bloomberg News in the United States reported that CNOOC wanted to sell its oilfield portfolio in the British North Sea, and the value of this asset reached $3 billion, while CNOOC was also shrinking related businesses in Canada and other Western countries. It can be seen that CNOOC is preparing to gradually withdraw from the energy markets of the United Kingdom and the United States.
As we all know, affected by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, global energy prices have soared, and theoretically holding Western energy shares is more beneficial than harmful under the current situation. However, since the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the West has repeatedly embezzled Russian assets, repeatedly violated the "spirit of contract", and imposed restrictions on many Chinese companies, so it is reasonable for CNOOC to shrink its business in Western countries at this time. It is worth mentioning that the reason given by CNOOC this time is that it is becoming more and more difficult to manage the assets of these countries.
In addition, at the end of 2020, then-US President Trump put CNOOC on the sanctions list on national security grounds to restrict Americans from buying PetroChina stocks. Although the US sanctions are like mosquito bites, they will not affect normal business, but they will have a certain impact on financing. Therefore, this year, CNOOC chose to delist on the New York Stock Exchange and return to A-shares. The message is already very obvious.
China is the world's largest manufacturing country and is extremely dependent on energy imports, so ensuring stable energy imports and maintaining China's energy security is the most important thing to consider at present. Fearing that the United States will not be able to impose various laws to restrict them like sanctions against Chinese technology companies, it will inevitably seriously endanger China's energy security. As one of China's "three barrels of oil", CNOOC's move is also responsible for China's national energy security and is avoiding risks in advance.
CNOOC is involved in the energy industry, which is already very vulnerable to the international situation. Today, Sino-US relations are deteriorating, so the possibility of Western countries confiscating the overseas assets of Chinese companies cannot be ruled out. However, while gradually withdrawing from Western markets, CNOOC has also begun to deploy in Latin America, Africa and other places. It is reported that CNOOC is actively seeking assets in the above two continents, of which Brazil, Guyana, Uganda and Gabon will be the focus of consideration.
Moreover, China's offshore waters will also be one of CNOOC's key development areas, with a large number of oil and gas fields in the South China Sea and Bohai Sea. Relevant data show that the sedimentary basin of the geological conditions of oil and gas in the South China Sea covers an area of more than 50 million hectares, of which the known oil reserves are 640 million tons and natural gas reserves are 980 billion cubic meters. Although the exploitation of the South China Sea began in the nineties of the last century, the neighboring countries are limited in technology, so the amount of exploitation is not particularly large, so the recoverable resources in the South China Sea area are still very sufficient.
CNOOC's action is just the beginning, a wake-up call to other Chinese companies that in the increasingly fierce Sino-US game, it will gradually affect the legitimate interests of Chinese enterprises overseas, and timely strategic transfer will be a good way to avoid the risks brought about by the change in the situation. However, for Western countries, the sudden withdrawal of an energy giant company will still have a certain impact on the stability of the local energy market, but this is also the Western countries themselves, no wonder others.