经济广角:中石油签约购买410亿美元澳大利亚天然气

China's largest energy company agreed yesterday to buy $41bn worth of natural gas from Australia at a signing ceremony that was intended to put a positive gloss on strained relations between the trading partners.

Martin Ferguson, Australia's energy and resources minister, was in Beijing to witness the signing of PetroChina's agreement to buy 2.25m metric tonnes a year of liquid natural gas from ExxonMobil's Gorgon project off the coast of the state of Western Australia.

At current gas prices, the deal will be worth $41bn over the next 20 years and is Australia's largest-ever trade deal, Mr Ferguson said. But the key conditions of the deal were agreed months ago and the timing of the announcement was clearly intended to soothe strained ties between Australia and its most important trading partner.

Canberra revealed yesterday that China cancelled a high-level diplomatic visit to Australia earlier this month in protest over the granting of a visa to Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer, who is blamed by Beijing for instigating ethnic riots in Xinjiang province last month.

Sino-Australian relations have also been damaged by the collapse of a high-profile Chinese investment in Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto and China's arrest of four Rio Tinto iron ore sales executives, including Australian citizen Stern Hu, on alleged bribery and commercial espionage charges.

Mr Ferguson's visit to Beijing and the ceremonial announcement of the PetroChina deal were timed to defuse rising tensions between the two countries, say people familiar with the deal.

Sino-Australian trade is worth about $53bn a year. “This agreement is testimony to the strength of Australia's continuing trade and investment relationship with China,” Mr Ferguson said in a statement. “As China continues to develop as a modern global industrial and commercial powerhouse, Australia is committed to walking with it on its remarkable journey.”

The Gorgon project is one of the world's largest proposed gas developments. As well as the agreement with ExxonMobil, which owns 25 per cent of Gorgon, PetroChina has a long standing agreement with Royal Dutch Shell, which also owns 25 per cent, to source gas from the field.

Chevron, the US oil group that is 50 per cent owner and operator of Gorgon, is yet to sign off officially on the project, however, a “final investment decision”, the last remaining milestone, is thought to be only weeks away.

In 2007, PetroChina signed what was then hailed as Australia's biggest export deal when it reached an outline agreement with Woodside Petroleum to buy an estimated $37bn worth of liquefied natural gas from the Browse basin. Australia has more than 10 LNG projects under development by some of the world's top energy groups.

中国最大能源企业昨日签约，从澳大利亚购买价值410亿美元的天然气，相关协议的签字仪式意在为这两大贸易伙伴之间的紧张关系涂上一抹亮色。

澳大利亚能源和资源部长马丁·弗格森(Martin Ferguson)在北京出席了中石油(PetroChina)与埃克森美孚(ExxonMobil)的签约仪式。根据协议，中石油每年将从埃克森美孚在西澳大利亚州海岸外的高更项目(Gorgon)购买225万吨液化天然气。

弗格森表示，按目前天然气价格计算，这宗交易在今后20年期间价值410亿美元，是澳大利亚有史以来最大的贸易协议。但这宗交易的关键条款在几个月前就已商定，此次宣布的时机，显然意在缓和澳大利亚与其最重要贸易伙伴之间的紧张关系。

堪培拉方面昨日透露，中国本月早些时候取消了一次对澳大利亚的高层外交访问，以抗议澳大利亚向维吾尔领袖热比娅·卡德尔发放签证。北京方面指责热比娅煽动挑起新疆上月发生的民族骚乱。

损害中澳关系的事件还包括：中方对英澳矿商力拓(Rio Tinto)的一宗高姿态投资落空，以及中国以涉嫌贿赂和获取商业秘密为由，逮捕力拓的4名铁矿石销售高管，其中包括澳大利亚公民胡士泰(Stern Hu)。

据知情人士介绍，弗格森前往北京访问，以及中石油交易的公布仪式，在时机上都是为了缓解两国间日益上升的紧张形势。

目前中澳贸易规模每年达到约530亿美元。“这项协议证明了澳大利亚与中国持久贸易和投资关系的强度，”弗格森在一份声明中表示。“在中国朝着现代化全球工商强国的方向继续发展之际，澳大利亚致力于陪伴中国完成这一了不起的旅程。”

高更项目是全球拟议中的最大天然气开发项目之一。埃克森美孚和荷兰皇家壳牌(Royal Dutch Shell)分别持有该项目25%的股权。中石油除了与埃克森美孚签约外，还早已与荷兰皇家壳牌签署从该项目购买天然气的协议。

高更项目的运营商、持有该项目50%股权的美国石油集团雪佛龙(Chevron)尚未正式决定推进该项目，不过，作为最后一块里程碑的“最终投资决定”，据信在几周内就会作出。

2007年，中石油签署了当时被誉为澳大利亚最大出口交易的协议，与Woodside Petroleum达成框架协议，从Browse盆地购买价值估计约370亿美元的液化天然气。澳大利亚有10多个液化天然气项目正在开发之中，开发商包括一些全球顶级能源集团。