China’s top offshore oil producer CNOOC Ltd said on Friday that BP was interested in partnering with its parent in developing deepwater blocks in the South China Sea.
China National Offshore Oil Corp said on Thursday it was offering 19 offshore blocks for foreign cooperation.
CNOOC normally teams with foreign firms to explore for oil and gas off Chinese shores, but once a commercial find is made, the Chinese firm holds the right to take a 51 percent stake.
Wang Yilin, CNOOC’s chairman, speaking to reporters in Hong Kong after the firm’s annual general meeting, did not disclose which blocks were of interest. Wang was appointed last month as chairman.
Analysts and fund managers are more bullish on CNOOC relative to state peers PetroChina and Sinopec , seeing the oil major as a key beneficiary of high oil prices this year.
Shares in CNOOC closed up 2 percent on Friday, outperforming Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index up 1 percent.
