The problems in Syria, Sudan, and Iran continue to ferment, causing the market to worry about the long-term supply of oil. The global oil giant has begun to accelerate competition in the capital market layout. The multiple investment plans disclosed in the past week indicate that the global oil capital market has entered a new round of deployment.

“In the current environment, the Chinese oil giants should speed up the deployment of the global market.” Frank Timis, chairman of African oil, said in an exclusive interview with this reporter recently that in recent years, Chinese-funded enterprises in North America, Australia Capital development in places such as South America has been hindered from time to time, but now they are beginning to find suitable investment paths and choose the right partners.

African Petroleum Corp Ltd. is a company engaged in oil and gas exploration and development in West Africa and Central Asia. It was listed on the National Stock Exchange of Australia in June 2010. Frank Timis is also Chairman of African Minerals Ltd.

African Oil Company is currently exploring oil fields in six countries in West Africa and has not yet produced any oil. However, West Africa has become the "new favorite" of old oil companies including Shell, BP and Chevron.

At the end of last month, after the African oil company announced the discovery of two 105-foot oil-producing zones off the LB-09 offshore block in Liberia, Timis’s phone had not stopped.

"I received a call from many oil giants and their bank financial advisors. They acted very fast," he said.

Geopolitics causes oil giants to shift risk Global crude oil prices rose 8.7% since February. Brent crude oil prices once soared to US$125 per barrel last week. Geopolitical future supply problems forced global oil giants to begin deployment. New strategy to transfer future long-term risks.

A special report on the crude oil movement of the Standard Chartered Bank on March 6 pointed out that "we have not yet reached a turning point." Among the three factors that are currently involved - the continued tension in the Middle East, high oil prices, and rising oil demand - No one can change in the short term.

Timis said that the real cause of instability in oil prices is due to the market's high concern about instability in the Middle East and North Africa.

The geopolitical influence in the Middle East and North Africa has caused the global oil and gas giants to turn their attention to other regions.

Chevron said at the end of February that the company has signed a joint venture agreement to conduct shale gas exploration in the Guizhou Basin in China and plans to drill two exploration wells in the Vaca Muerta Strip in Argentina to develop shale gas and tight oil resources.

ConocoPhillips previously announced that it will sell $10 billion of assets and focus its business on North American oil-rich projects. CITIC Group recently signed an agreement with state-owned energy companies in Venezuela to obtain a 10% stake in petropiar heavy oil upgrading plant.

In the early stage of exploration of traditional oil resources, West Africa became the main "battlefield."

At present, there are significant oil discoveries on recent coasts such as Senegal, the Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Côte d'Ivoire. Anadarko Petroleum discovered a 98-foot-thick oil and gas reservoir in the Sierra Leone waters. Anadarko Petroleum, the largest independent oil and gas company in the United States, also obtained important oil discoveries on the Liberian sea.

Thimes said that although the current market concerns about risks are beyond the actual supply and demand level, the problem is not so serious. Sudan's ** will not have significant support for global oil prices. The North African region where the Sudan is located has far less oil production than West Africa, and the latter is relatively politically stable.

Chinese oil companies should step up capital strategy deployment Compared with the long-term strategy of the global oil giants in deployment, the development of Chinese oil companies in the global capital market has only just begun.

“The huge reserves of crude oil in the Gulf of Guinea could be used as a substitute for oil production from the Gulf of Mexico. In this region, the oil giants of the United States, Europe and Russia have all been deployed properly, but Chinese oil companies have not yet entered this area. "Frank Timis said.

These international giants have already seen that Asian countries have begun to increase their purchases of crude oil from West Africa. According to Barclays Capital statistics, West Africa’s oil exports to Asia increased to 2.15 million barrels per day in February this year, the highest level in seven months.

The strategic deployment of oil giants in the African region has seen the long-term needs of Asian countries. According to the report of the International Energy Agency (IEA) at the end of February, the oil demand in Asia in 2012 is expected to reach 20.80 million barrels per day, an increase of 3.1% over the previous year. At the same time, oil demand in the United States and Europe will decrease by 0.5% and 2.4% respectively this year.

However, the Chinese oil companies have just recently worked hard to open the door to the North American market, and their eyes on capital operations have not yet reached the African continent.

Data provider Dealogic's survey shows that since 2010, Chinese companies have invested more than 17 billion U.S. dollars in oil and natural gas transactions in the United States and Canada, and North America has become China's largest region for oil and gas transactions. However, compared with the speed of capital expansion of the oil giant, this result is minimal.

Timis believes that unlike Chinese-funded companies encountering policy barriers in North America, if they can intensify the development of new oil territory in Africa, there will be no similar challenges.

However, Chinese oil companies still need to face the challenges of other oil giants in Africa.

“Chinese oil companies are technically and financially required to operate in a global market, but their problem is that the progress of development is too slow.” Timis said that for an investment case, Chinese companies may need 6 Month to make a decision, but Chevron, Shell, etc. may take only 6 weeks.

After Sinopec bid for the Jubilee project of coastal oil in Ghana in 2009, Chinese companies still have not achieved strategic resources in this region.

“The only problem for Chinese oil companies now is that they must move faster to expand their markets. In this area, there are already 10-15 international oil companies entering the market,” said Timis.

Timis said that when working with companies in the African region that already have oilfield resources, Chinese companies still need such a strategy: “They have several options. One is to explore for development, but the risk is too great, and the second is to purchase oil fields. The third is the acquisition of large oil producers, but the acquisition target is limited. Therefore, I think Chinese companies are better off looking for some partners with lower risks to make strategic investments."