China Attempting to Secure 1/6th of Nigeria's Proven Oil Reserves

I feel like I'm posting the same story each month - the Chinese buying some long lived hard commodity assets to secure their national future (using money Americans send in each day) contrasted with the US handing money (that we borrow from the Chinese) out in all directions to create an aura of prosperity / recovery, and help win elections.

The past 48 hours say it all, with almost exact same dollars used. In the United States of Bailout, $35 Billion going to push renters into homeowners so we can claim a housing recovery [Sep 29, 2009: $35 Billion More in Handouts / Bailouts Headed to Local Housing], whereas in the People's Republic an equivalent amount is going to attempt to secure 1 out of every 6 barrels of proven oil reserves in Nigeria.

You can extrapolate the past 10 years and the coming 25 from there. Just don't say you weren't warned when 2023 rolls around and American leadership is aghast / surprised at what's happened.

Via FT.com

• A Chinese state-owned oil company is in talks with Nigeria to buy large stakes in some of the world's richest oil blocks in a deal that would eclipse Beijing's previous efforts to secure crude overseas. Sixteen licences are up for renewal.
• CNOOC, one of China's three energy majors, is seeking to acquire 6bn barrels of oil, equivalent to one in every six barrels of the proven reserves in Nigeria, sub-Saharan Africa's biggest crude producer and a major supplier to the US.
• The overall value of the Chinese offer is not disclosed, although some details suggest a figure of about $30bn (£18.9bn). Some oil sector executives claim the offer is $50bn.
• Details of how the Nigerian government would allocate equity in the blocks to CNOOC have yet to emerge and it is unclear whether this would involve forcing western groups to relinquish stakes.
• Mr Yakubu said that the Chinese "are really offering multiples of what existing producers are pledging [for licences]. We love to see this kind of competition".

It's so much bigger than this one deal; each month we hear of something similar... name the commodity; China is investing in it for the coming decades. Everywhere on Earth.

• China's push to gain a significant foothold in Nigeria underlines the scale of its long-term ambitions to secure access to energy resources across the globe. Much of its investment has been for exploration, in contrast with the Nigerian blocks which are already producing or slated to start pumping soon.