Chinese CNPC won tender to build coastal oil terminal in Sudan

SHANGHAI, China, June 11, 2004 (Interfax-China) — The China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) has announced that its international engineering arm, the China Petroleum Engineering & Construction (Group) Corp. (CPECC) has won the bid to become the general contractor for a USD 215.4 mln coastal oil terminal project in North Africa’s Sudan.

The terminal is located in the CNPC-invested 3/7 Block in Sudan. After first-phase development, the terminal will have a daily ship loading capacity of 2 mln barrels and oil storage capacity of 3 mln barrels. It will also be able to accommodate 300,000-tonnage oil tankers, said CNPC’s official publication Zhongguo Shiyou Bao.

Besides the terminal project, CPECC also became the general contractor for five ground infrastructure projects at the 3/7 Block through international bidding early this month. The projects, valued at a total of USD 190 mln, include a pipeline project, a power transmission project, a power plant project, and two oilfield ground infrastructure projects.

CNPC currently has three oil PSAs, at Blocks 1/2/4, Blocks 3/7 and Block 6, in Sudan, which has become the largest overseas oil production base for China.

Blocks 1/2/4, developed by the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Co. (GNOC) which is 40% held by CNPC, produced 5.7 mln tons of equity oil for CNPC last year, while Blocks 3/7 and Block 6 are yet to begin production of scale. CNPC is also expanding a refinery in the Sudanese capital Khartoum and runs a 723-km pipeline connecting the refinery with its largest oilfield Fula in the country.