OREANDA-NEWS. April 18, 2014. Royal Dutch Shell Plc (LON:RDSA) has signed a deal with China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) to boost cooperation in sectors such as deep sea exploration and shale gas, the Beijing-backed company has said.

CNPC said today in a statement that it had signed cooperation documents with Shell following “a candid and friendly discussion” between CNPC’s Chairman Zhou Jiping and Shell’s chief executive Ben van Beurden.

CNPC noted that the two companies had agreed to boost cooperation in deep water, liquefied natural gas (LNG), unconventional resources such as shale, and upstream and downstream businesses. Reuters reported that van Beurden, in his first overseas visit since taking the helm at Shell in January, told Zhou that both sides had set up deep and wide-ranging ties and had huge room for further cooperation.