talking point | the blog at LeeHudsonTeslik.com

A few interesting new pieces on Chinese efforts to wade into African oil markets: First, from the FT, a report that China is looking to pour billions of dollars into Guinea to prospect for oil. As the piece notes, this is likely to draw ire from human rights groups, who have hammered away at the Guinean government for the military massacre of opposition demonstrators last month. Now they will almost certainly jump on China for propping up said government.

Meanwhile, one of China’s national oil companies is in talks with Ghana’s government and wants to partake in the development of oil deposits in deep water off the Ghanaian coast. This sets up a potential clash with Exxon, which has bid $4 billion for a stake in the project.

All of this comes on the heels of reports that China is looking to ramp up its operations in Nigeria.

For more detail on all this, I definitely recommend CFR’s backgrounder. Also, this report from Chatham House.

Update: Exxon has apparently succeeded in its $4 billion bid to buy a stake in Ghana’s offshore oil fields from the Dallas-based Kosmos Energy.