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July 23, 2006
Oil & Apricots
Ever supportive of Korla (库尔勒) - my home away from home - I was pleased to read this morning that China is opening up the Taklamakan Desert/Tarim Basin oilfields to exploration by foreign companies. Not that I haven't occasionally spotted a Texan or two roaming through Korla's city center. Halliburton and similar outfits are responsible for supplying a good portion of the drilling equipment used by Chinese oil companies in the area... and with these new developments, I'm sure a Texas twang will become de rigeur among cutting-edge students of English.
My reasons for supporting the development are somewhat selfish: (1) I like Korla and have enjoyed seeing it's remarkable growth even during the short one-and-a-half years I've been here, and (2) I'm hoping the certain increase in foreigners (I can only count about seven at the moment) will bring improvements to my quality of life such as breakfast cereal, a reliable butter supply, and maple syrup. Can I ever dream of the day when Korla has a TGIFriday's and an Outback Steakhouse like Beijing? Mmmmm... seasoned curly fries.
(You can read the full article on the opening of the oil fields below.)
In other news, I am now officially an exporter. That's right, I made my first sale of apricot puree concentrate a few days ago. It was only a small sale (about 60 metric tons) compared with what I'm trying to move, but nonetheless I feel that things are moving in the right direction. I'll soon be slinging tomato paste and sundried tomatoes... who knows, I might even make enough money to go back home to the US and see my friends and family sometime in the next decade.
Oh, I almost forgot... everyone should go and check out Dear Internet, a site recently launched by my friend Chris Erway and a team of graduate computer dorks from Brown University. The site basically allows you to pose a question to the public, provide a list of answers, and wait for the masses to subject you to their tyranny. It's a bit of a waste of time if you ask me (not that I'm Mr. Efficient), but somehow I find myself mesmirized by age-old philosophical quandries like, "Purple vs. Green" and "Flight vs. Invisibility". Don't wait! Visit now and find out what everyone thinks about your stupid question.
IOCs May Gain Access to Tarim Basin
18 July 2006
Emerging Markets Daily News
© Copyright 2006 Business Monitor International
China is planning to allow foreign oil companies a rare chance to carry out exploration activities in parts of the resource-rich Tarim Basin in the north-west of the country, according to state-owned c (CNPC). This move will be welcomed by international oil companies (IOCs), which have traditionally been kept away from China's most prolific basins.
CNPC said that it will invite bids from foreign companies for exploration in nine potential oil and gas blocks in the basin. It said that several IOCs had already expressed an interest in participating in projects in the Tarim Basin, but provided no names.
A company statement suggested that a major incentive for permitting foreign participation was to attract technological know-how from overseas. CNPC apparently plans to exploit the latest exploration methods in order to raise the level of proven reserves.
The nine blocks open to foreign exploration involve a total area of 110,000 square kilometres, the CNPC statement said. It did not provide the exact location of the blocks. but said they are located in the south-west, the centre and the east of the basin, located in the vast Xinjiang region.
This region is considered critical to China's efforts to boost its energy security in the coming years and as a possible replacement of oil fields such as Daqing in north-east China, which are approaching exhaustion.
China has traditionally limited foreign access to its onshore oil and gas resources but, as demand for energy to power its booming economy has grown, it has opened the door and, in March, PetroChina signed a deal with Total of France on exploration in the Erdos Basin.
According to the June 2006 BP Statistical Review of World Energy, China's proved end-2005 oil reserves were 16.0bn barrels (a significant downwards revision from earlier estimates), while China has 2,350bcm of gas. Exploration activity is picking up and production is relatively stable. This suggests some medium-term decline in oil reserves (to 15.3bn bbl by 2010), but more stability in the gas segment.
China's oil demand by 2010 is currently expected to reach at least 8.33mn b/d (according to BMI forecasts), from 6.99mn b/d in 2005. There is scope for upwards revisions to the medium-term projections. We see potential for relatively stable domestic oil output over the near term, with volumes in 2006 of 3.65mn b/d before settling back at around 3.55mn b/d by 2010. The import requirement is therefore expected to be no less than 4.78mn b/d by 2010.
posted July 23, 2006 at 03:11 PM unofficial Xinjiang time | HaoHao This!
Comments
Happy to answer any management questions that might arise. Your long distance management resource!
Frieda/Julie
Posted by: Frida/Julie at July 24, 2006 12:56 AM
thanks for the link michael! in return, i'll take one metric ton each of tomatoes and apricots. do you ship LCL?
Posted by: chris at July 31, 2006 12:41 AM
"In other news, I am now officially an exporter. That's right, I made my first sale of apricot puree concentrate a few days ago."
Could you please tell me more?
Posted by: David at August 16, 2006 12:11 AM