Total plans $2bn China gas project

A senior executive of Paris-based Total SA said the company plans to make a final investment decision on investing in a natural-gas block in Inner Mongolia in mid-2009, the Wall Street Journal reported. The company said it would initially invest US$1.5-2 billion in the South Sulige block if its development plan is approved by China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC). Total, which signed a contract with CNPC for the evaluation, development and production of the block in 2006, has already spent about US$130 million on South Sulige, which covers an area of 2,390 square kilometers and has more than 534 billion cubic meters of proven gas reserves. China aims to have gas make up 5.3% of its energy production by 2010, up from 2.8% in 2005.