China, Kuwait ink 5 energy, environment pacts

May. 11, 2009 (China Knowledge) - China and Kuwait on Sunday reached five agreements on oil and gas and the environment as part of China's effort to enhance cooperation with resource-rich nations to secure energy supplies for its fast-growing economy, sources reported.

The five agreements, witnessed by Chinese President Hu Jintao and the Emir of Kuwait, Sheik Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, included a pact under which Kuwait will provide US$24 million in loans to fund the cleanup of Bosten Lake in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

However, the officials from the Chinese and Kuwaiti foreign ministries declined to reveal the details of the oil and gas agreements.

The governments of both countries and two of their state-owned oil companies, Kuwait Petroleum International and Sinopec<600028><0386><SNP>, the largest refiner in Asia by capacity, have continued their protracted talks during the past weeks. They have long hoped to agree on the establishment of a US$9 billion refinery and petrochemical complex that would be the single largest Chinese-foreign joint venture, but the talks have shown no results yet.

In early April, a unit of Sinopec signed a five-year agreement worth US$350 million to build five oil and gas rigs for Kuwait Oil Co. This is the biggest rig project Sinopec has won so far, according to an earlier report from China Knowledge.