OREANDA-NEWS. February 07, 2014. China has emerged as the largest buyer of oil and gas assets internationally over the last financial year, according to a report released by the China National Petroleum Corporation’s Economics and Technology Research Institute. 

Chinese energy companies collectively bought USD 22.2 billion worth of assets, a decline of 35 per cent of the previous year when China spent USD 34 billion on mergers and acquisitions.

The largest deal in 2012 was China National Offshore Oil Corporation’s (CNOOC) USD 15.1 billion acquisition of Nexen, a Canadian oil and gas company – the largest ever Chinese foreign takeover deal.

Chinese state-owned energy giants led the charge with USD 20.5 billion worth of acquisitions and the China National Petroleum Corporation was the largest spender followed by Sinopec. The companies spent USD 14.9 billion and USD 4.9 billion respectively.

Local Chinese energy companies, private enterprises and funds also joined the rush to acquire assets abroad spending about USD 1.2 billion.

Indian, Japanese and Malaysian energy companies were also active last year, according to the report.