CNPC wants foreign firms to share oil output

China National Petroleum Corp plans to let more foreign companies develop domestic oil fields in exchange for sharing the oil recovered, the Wall Street Journal reported. "We are thinking of oil after the gas deals … Our priority [for foreign partnerships] is to raise local oil-recovery rates," said Yan Cunzhang, general manager of the foreign cooperation unit under CNPC. The company currently receives a share of the output of onshore natural-gas blocks developed by foreign firms. Chevron and CNPC signed a 30-year contract to share output from a high-sulfur natural gas block in Sichuan province this week. The Chinese firm has also signed similar contracts with Total and Shell for natural gas sites in the northwestern Ordos Basin.