Chinese refiner Sinopec (中國石化) is in preliminary talks on acquiring Canadian oil and gas exploration company Addax Petroleum Corp, reports said yesterday.
The potential takeover bid is the latest effort by Chinese energy and resource companies to expand and diversify overseas assets as Beijing seeks to secure resources for the nation’s future growth.
Addax, whose shares are listed in Toronto and London, issued a statement noting speculation over a possible acquisition after its shares soared on Monday.
“Addax Petroleum acknowledges that it has held preliminary discussions with third parties expressing an interest in a potential transaction with the corporation,” it said without naming Sinopec or any other names.
It said there was no assurance the talks would succeed and that the company would not issue any further comments unless a deal is reached.
VALUE
The state-run Chinese newspaper China Business News, citing unnamed Sinopec sources, reported yesterday that the takeover would be worth about US$8 billion. However, reports of earlier acquisition overtures valued the company at about US$3 billion.
Beijing-based Sinopec, whose formal name is China Petroleum Chemical Corp, is the nation’s biggest refiner by capacity.
It urgently needs to expand its upstream international assets to help cushion against spikes in global crude oil prices that have caused it to post billions of dollars in losses in recent years owing to caps on domestic fuel prices.
Earlier this year, unconfirmed reports named Chinese offshore oil and gas company CNOOC (中國海洋石油), Japan’s Mitsubishi and India’s Oil & Natural Gas Corp as potential suitors for Addax.
BASE
Addax’s oil and gas exploration and production is based mainly in west Africa and the Middle East, including joint operation of the Taq Taq field in Iraq’s self-ruled Kurdish region with Turkey’s Genel Enerji.
The company reports it produced 134.7 million barrels a day of crude oil in the first quarter of this year.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
STORM’S PATH: Kong-Rey could be the first typhoon to make landfall in Taiwan in November since Gilda in 1967. Taitung-Green Island ferry services have been halted Tropical Storm Kong-rey is forecast to strengthen into a typhoon early today and could make landfall in Taitung County between late Thursday and early Friday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, Kong-Rey was 1,030km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the nation’s southernmost point, and was moving west at 7kph. The tropical storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126 kph, CWA data showed. After landing in Taitung, the eye of the storm is forecast to move into the Taiwan Strait through central Taiwan on Friday morning, the agency said. With the storm moving
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
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