Chinese supermajor Sinopec Corp has denied that it has made a near US$8 billion bid for the Swiss-Canadian exploration and development company Addax Petroleum.
Huang Wensheng, a spokesman for Sinopec Corp, told newspaper the China Daily that the energy giant had not bid for Addax, but he wasn’t sure if the state-owned parent company of Sinopec Corp, Sinopec Group, was preparing a bid. Â
The manager of overseas cooperation projects for Sinopec Group, Xu Dongmei, is reported as saying that she has no knowledge of a bid and that her department wasn;t the one making the offer.
Speculation is continuing to grow about Addax with UK newspaper The Financial Times saying today that PetroChina and the China National Offshore Oil Company could be formulating their own bids for the company.
The reason behind China’s apparent interest in Addax Petroleum is believed to be the company’s interests in Iraqi Kurdistan.
The company shares a licence for the Taq Taq oilfield in Kurdistan and the recent thawing of relations between the Iraqi Oil Ministry and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has meant that the many companies operating in the area have become attractive acquisition targets for the major oil companies.
Â
