OREANDA-NEWS. March 27, 2013. Italy's Eni may be looking at developing further joint projects with China's National Petroleum Corp after the offshore Mozambique deal signed, Eni's CEO Paolo Scaroni said.

Speaking to journalists after the presentation of Eni's 2013-2016 strategic plan in London, Scaroni said, without referring to any specific project, that "since we are the hydrocarbon leaders in Africa and CNPC has big plans in the world, including Africa, maybe there are new areas of cooperation in other countries."

China National Petroleum Corp. said it would take a 28.57% stake in Eni's East African subsidiary in a deal worth USD 4.2 billion.

This will give the Chinese state-owned company an indirect 20% stake in Area 4 in Mozambique, CNPC said. Italy-based Eni currently has a 70% stake in the Mamba discoveries in Area 4.

Both companies have also agreed to jointly develop the roughly 2,000 sq km Rongchang unconventional block in China's central Sichuan Basin, CNPC said.

Addressing the agreement, Scaroni said that "we don't look at it as a deal, we look at it as a strategic alliance."

Eni, along with others including US' Anadarko, has made significant discoveries in the gas-rich Rovuma Basin offshore Mozambique, potentially making the country one of the world's largest LNG exporters in the future.

Asked about the fact that some market observers had considered the price of the deal as not favorable, Scaroni said that "everyone in the world would have been happy" to sign a similar deal.

"I've always thought that China will shift to gas only if they find domestic gas. I don't see a country like China accepting to be dependent largely on imports of gas," Scaroni said, adding that makes domestic gas production in China very important.