LatAm Natural Resources Ripe for China

Offshore oil in Brazil, wells in North Peru and opportunities in Argentina all offer significant potential to Chinese investors, according to LatAm energy companies, who are upbeat about the prospects. “Offshore drilling in Brazil in shallow waters will present huge opportunities in the next 5 years, and they have been largely ignored for the last few years,” says Ricardo Juiniti, head of drilling at OGX. However, he adds that regulators need to open up opportunities to more operators in order to access technology to get the most out of the oil fields. Oil fields in Northern Peru also offer a lot of potential, according to Manuel Zuniga, CEO of BPZ Energy. “We drilled a well 3 years ago, after 25 years of there being no off shore drilling in the region, there is a huge potential to partner with Chinese companies that have the right technology to access the large potential that is there,” he adds. Steven Crowell, CEO of Pluspetrol, which was one of the first companies to team up with a Chinese company to explore oil and gas in Peru, says the Chinese long-term view of investments and the natural resources industry being a long-term industry provide the right conditions for partnerships. His company partnered with CNPC 7 years ago and as a result has been involved in a further 4 projects with the company. He is also upbeat about Argentina’s natural resource potential. “There is a real need for investment, we are optimistic that there will be additional relief following the encouraging progress on price controls and with a highly educated work force and rich natural resources it just needs the capital for exploration,” he adds. They were speaking at the LatinFinance Latin America China Investors Forum this week in Beijing.