China’s resources drive continues apace, despite the resounding failure of Chinalco’s bid to acquire a big stake in Rio Tinto. According to weekend reports - initially in the Sunday Times - Chinese state-owned oil group Sinopec is stepping up its race to secure access to global oil reserves with an “audacious” £4.8bn bid for Addax Petroleum, a London-listed group with fields in Iraqi Kurdistan and Nigeria.
Bloomberg reports on Monday that a spokesman for the Hong Kong-listed unit of China Petrochemical Corp, Sinopec’s official name, denied the unit has bid for Addax, though did not rule out the possibility that its state-owned (and unlisted) parent company has made a bid. Needless to say, the Beijing-based parent company has not taken any steps to clarify its position - and Addax isn’t talking either.
Addax, which is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and has a market cap of C$6.9bn said on June 9 only that preliminary talks were underway with third parties expressing an interest in a “potential transaction” with the company. The company announced on June 1 it had started crude-oil exports from the Taq Taq license area in the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq.
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