China To Search For Oil, Gas In Sudan
 3rd JUL 2007

China's biggest oil company, CNPC has reached a deal with Sudan to search for oil and gas in the north of the country on the coast of the Red Sea. The exploration will be carried out jointly with the Indonesian state oil and gas company, PT Pertamina. China has been under pressure from Western countries to reduce its investments in Sudan because of the humanitarian crisis there. China is Sudan's top foreign investor and also supplies it with weapons. It has argued against taking sanctions against Sudan, saying what is needed are measures to address poverty, which it sees as the cause of the violence in Darfur. The agreement calls for six years of exploration and 20 years of shared production. The exploration rights cover about 3.8 square kilometres of shallow water on the Red Sea. The financial details of the deal are however, still being worked out, according to officials at the Chinese embassy in Sudan.

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