China National Petroleum Corporation

CNPC is a major investor in South Sudan's oil sector. The company is major stockholder in Petrodar consortiums.[17]

The Great Wall Drilling Company, a subsidiary of the China National Petroleum Company, invested $700 million in drilling 57 wells in Sudan over a 3-year period starting in 1997.[18] In 2010, the company was awarded a contract by the Sudanese Petroleum Ministry to build 5 oil rigs for $75.5 million.[19]

In December 2011, Afghanistan signed a deal with CNPC for the development of oil blocks in the Amu Darya basin, a project expected to earn billions of dollars over two decades; the deal covers drilling and a refinery in the northern provinces of Sar-e Pol and Faryab and is the first international oil production agreement entered into by the Afghan government for several decades.[20]

CNPC is one of the most active Chinese companies in the petroleum sector in Kazakhstan.[21] It is heavily involved in the development of Kazakh oil after the acquisition of Alberta-based PetroKazakhstan, a company with all operations in Kazakhstan. The company was purchased for $4.18 billion. Political resistance in Kazakhstan to the deal was placated by the sale of a minority stake in PetroKazakhstan by CNPC to KazMunaiGaz, the Kazakh state-owned oil company.

In 2006, CNPC formed an international consortium with state-run Uzbekneftegaz, LUKoil Overseas, Petronas, and Korea National Oil Corporation to explore and develop oil and gas fields in the Aral Sea.[22]

In October 2004, CNPC began construction of a pipeline from the Middle East to Xinjiang province.

In May 2014, A 30-year deal between Russia's Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) which was 10 years in the making was estimated worth $400 billion. The agreement was signed at a summit in Shanghai and is expected to deliver some 38 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year, starting around 2018, to China's burgeoning economy.[23]

CNPC operated in New Zealand as CCDC (NZ) Drilling and had one drilling rig, a triple stand DC rig named Rig 43. CCDC NZ started work over/drilling operations in the Kapuni gas fields of South Taranaki New Zealand in late 2012 for "tight gas". The rig completed the Kapuni drilling campaign of 4 wells for STOS (Shell Todd Oil Services) in August 2013. Its next drilling project commenced August 2013 for Tag Oil with one well successfully drilled at Cheal C of a depth of just under 5,000m. The rig was then stood down pending appeals for the next stage of a drilling campaign for Tag Oil in March 2014. Due to the periods involved it was decided to end its drilling campaign in New Zealand. Rig 43 was then dismantled and shipped to other overseas locations and no longer operates in New Zealand.

China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering, a unit of CNPC, was the primary contractor working to establish two pipelines in Malaysia. The project was suspended by the Malaysian government in 2018, and in July 2019 a CPP account containing $240 million was seized by the Malaysian government and transferred to a Malaysian government-owned business.[24]

In March 2009, CNPC began development of Ahdab, an oil field in Wasit Governorate holding a modest one billion barrels, becoming "the first significant foreign investors" in Iraq.[25] The contract is a renegotiated version of a 1997 agreement between China and Iraq under Saddam Hussein.[26] The project progressed despite security problems with local farmers. Dozens of farmers complained of damage to property because of work on the site and Iraqi oil officials claimed thievery from the oil site by local farmers.[25] Adhab is not expected to be a major profit center, earning the company a projected 1 percent profit, but the field was seen as an entry strategy into Iraq.

Following Adhab, CNPC obtained a production contract during the 2009/2010 Iraqi oil services contracts tender to develop the much larger "Rumaila field" with joint venture partner BP, which contains an estimated 17.8 billion barrels (2.83×10⁹ m³) of oil. It is expected that crude oil production from Rumaila will expand by 10% by the end of 2010 once the BP PLC/CNPC consortium takes over development of the field in June 2010.[27][28] A contract was also awarded to a consortium led by CNPC (37.5%), including Total (18.75%) and Petronas (18.75%) for the "Halfaya field" in the south of Iraq, which contains an estimated 4.1 billion barrels (650,000,000 m³) of oil.[29][30]

CNPC became increasingly involved in development of Iranian oil fields following Western sanctions that targeted the Iranian oil and gas sectors leading many European energy companies such as Shell Oil, Repsol, etc. to shut down operations in Iran. The CNPC along with Sinopec has been involved in various projects relating to Iran oil/gas development. As of 2011, CNPC has been developing Iran's age-old Masjed Soleyman Oil Field, the oldest oil field of the Middle East, together with Iranian counterpart NIOC in a deal worth 200 million dollars. Production from this particular oil field was expected to increase in 2011 from 2,500 barrels (400 m³) a day to 25,000 barrels (4,000 m³) after the completion of the first phase, and to 55,000,000 bbl/d (8,700,000 m³/d) following the completion of phase 2 of the project.[31]

In August 2018, Total officially withdrew from the Iranian South Pars gas field because of sanctions pressure from the US,[32] leaving CNPC to take up their 50.1% stake in the $5 billion natural gas field, of which it had already 30%.[33] It held this 80.1% share until it withdrew its investment in October 2019 due to the US sanctions regime, according to Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh and the SHANA news agency.[33]

CNPC with Indian state oil firm, ONGC created a joint venture to acquire minority stakes ranging from about 33.3% to 39% in several mature Syrian oil and natural-gas properties. The combined entity was a notable instance of cooperation between two state oil firms that regularly competed for assets around the world.[34]

On 23 December 2003, a gas blowout occurred at the Luojia No. 16H gas well. 243 people died, 2,142 were hospitalised.[35]

In 2005, there were explosions at a CNPC owned petrochemical plant causing six deaths, a mass evacuation, and a massive oil spill over the Songhua River.

A gas pipeline exploded on 20 January 2006 in Sichuan. Reportedly, nine were killed and nearly 40 injured.[36]

A leak occurred on 25 March 2006 in the Luojia No. 2 gas well.[35] The third attempt six days after the blowout succeeded; 15,000 were evacuated.[37]

In 2009 a CNPC pipeline burst, spilling 150 m³ (5,300 cu ft) of diesel oil into the Chishui River in Shaanxi province.[38]

In July 2010, two pipelines exploded at an oil storage depot belonging to China National Petroleum Corp near Dalian's Xingang Harbour in Liaoning province which spilled an estimated 1,500 tonnes of crude into the sea. The worst of the spill initially covered 180 km² (69 sq mi).[39][40]

The operations of a CNPC subsidiary in Chad were entirely suspended in August 2013 by the country's government after it violated environmental standards while drilling for crude oil in the south of the country.[41]