The Challenges Facing China’s Oil Behemoth Abroad

“PetroDragon” expert Xu Xiaojie talks about the overseas opportunities and hurdles


CNPC counterpart China National Offshore Oil, parent company of CNOOC (CEO), China’s largest offshore player, is back in the news, too. Its $16 billion plan to jointly develop Iranian gas fields is drawing concern in Washington as lawmakers there push for sanctions against Iran’s nuclear program.

After working for 25 years at China’s largest oil and gas outfit, Xu Xiaojie now serves as director of the Institute of Overseas Investment at CNPC’s Research Academy of Economics & Technology. He also is a participating fellow at the James A. Baker Institute for Public Policy Energy Forum at Rice University in Houston and the author of PetroDragon’s Rise: What It Means for China and the World (European Press, 2002). The 48-year-old Xu recently sat down at the Westin Hotel in Beijing for a two-hour-plus interview with BusinessWeek China bureau chief Dexter Roberts to discuss the company’s overseas development, the new challenges facing CNPC and PetroChina, and why his company will continue to do business with Sudan. Edited excerpts follow…

Business Week