OREANDA-NEWS. January 14, 2013. CHINA is buying up oil and gas reserves across the world at an unprecedented pace.
Figures for 2012 show that the world's second-biggest economy unleashed its spending power on energy assets last year, spending a record USD 35.7 billion (USD 34.4bn).

The figure includes oil and gas prospects and assets further down the supply chain, such as refineries. But it excludes the investment that China will have to make to increase production, estimated to be billions more.

Among the assets China has bought are two companies with large blocks of the British North Sea, Nexen and Talisman. The purchase of Nexen alone, which also owns tar sands in Canada, accounted for \\$US18bn of China's spending.

China's three state-controlled oil giants -- PetroChina, Sinopec and CNOOC -- have also bought fields in Nigeria, Australia, Gabon and Saudi Arabia.

 ...Divestments by some of the large Western oil companies is making their task easier, as it cuts competition for assets.

The amount China spent last year compares with only USD 19.1bn in 2011, according to data from Dealogic.

The previous record was in 2010, when China's oil companies bought assets worth USD 25.7bn.

Much of the buying can be explained by China's growing appetite for oil after 10 years of meteoric economic growth. But some of the assets it has bought are too far from mainland China to feed the country's economy directly.

Instead, observers believe that Beijing is buying oil assets partly to diversify its investments and to acquire valuable new technology, particularly in so-called "unconventional" oil and gas extraction, such as very deep water drilling, tar sands and shale.

"The Chinese have substantial domestic production, most of which comes from conventional developments, but those opportunities are diminishing in the wider world and new resources are much more technically challenging," said Simon Flowers, head of corporate analysis at Wood Mackenzie. "Acquiring technical skills internationally will be a key part of unlocking their shale resources domestically."

Buying oil and gas assets also provides a buffer for China's economy. If energy prices rise, the oil-hungry Chinese government will pay more but will at least benefit from greater revenues from its oil companies.

For Britain, China's interest in the North Sea is providing a new source of investment at a time when traditional European financing sources are drying up.

Tony Craven Walker, an oil entrepreneur who is chairman of Serica Energy, said: "There are fields being developed at the moment that it's very hard to find the financing for -- there's a shortage of funds here. The state-backed organisations have an advantage because their capital is cheaper and there's more of it."

Britain has taken a relaxed approach to Beijing's acquisitions so far, but China's buying spree has sparked some worries in other countries.

Canada has warned Beijing's oil giants against attempting any more outright takeovers and Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said that Nexen will be the last one waved through.