DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates state-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and China's Sinopec have signed a new “strategic” energy deal, the official WAM news agency reported. The agreement, signed on the sidelines of an energy conference in the UAE capital, comes only days after Saudi Arabia's state oil company Aramca also inked a new agreement with the Chinese company for an oil refinery on the Red Sea coast to process around 400,000 barrels of oil per day. Oil industry executives told Bikyamasr.com that the deals will “have a major impact on the region and will help to increase our trade relationship with China as it continues to grow and lead the world.” Thomas Hueger, an oil executive with a leading European company, told Bikyamasr.com that “we see opening up to China as a means of ensuring greater economic activity and production despite global shortages and worries over Iranian sanctions.” The deal is aiming to promote cooperation between the UAE and China on production and storage as well as on training and research, the WAM report said. The UAE and China also signed a memorandum of understanding on energy cooperation that focuses on new and renewable energy sources and paves the way for joint projects and research in the development of clean energy technologies. The Saudi and UAE agreements were signed during Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's Gulf tour, which will also take him to Qatar. His trip comes as the West ups the stakes in its standoff with Iran, threatening to impose sanctions on the oil exports of the Islamic republic, which provides 11 percent of China's oil imports. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/mrWuh Tags: Agreement, China, Energy, featured, Oil Section: Business, East Asia, Latest News, United Arab Emirates
