Africa, as one of the major overseas business cooperation zones of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), has yielded fruitful results from China-Africa oil cooperation. 

Starting oil collaboration with Africa in 1995, the CNPC, China’s largest oil and gas producer, has won high reputation from local governments and society thanks to the huge contribution it made to local economy, society and people’s livelihood.

It has established advanced petroleum industrial systems featuring the integration of upstream and downstream links and complete supporting facilities.

Chad’s first oil refining and chemical engineering project N’Djamena Refinery, which was contracted by the CNPC, officially started operation on June 29, 2011.

Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno gave high recognition of the project at the inauguration ceremony, saying that “today is of historic significance for Chadians as we have realized energy independence.”

The refinery is seen as the “symbol of Chad’s energy independence” by the locals, as its operation has made Chadians accessible to locally refined oil products, and offered the country a path to industrialization. Before the operation of the refinery, the country had to import petroleum products from other countries at high prices.

Besides, the company has built in three years a production base with an annual capacity of a million tons of crude oil, a 462-kilometer oil pipeline and a modern oil refinery in Saharan Desert of Niger.

In November 2011, the Agadem integrated upstream-downstream project in Niger was officially completed, marking the country as a petroleum producer.

China-Africa petroleum cooperation creates a great deal of jobs for local community and trains a great number of local professionals, assisting African countries to achieve their goals of poverty reduction.

For instance, CNPC is running an apprenticeship mechanism in Nigerien refineries which allocates one Chinese technician for one local employee on skill training. It has greatly improved the capability of the African workers.

CNPC’s branches in Niger, according to statistics, have directly created over 7,000 jobs, and sent nearly 200 local employees and officials of Niger’s Ministry of Energy and Petroleum to China and other countries for professional training.

In addition, CNPC is also actively fulfilling its social responsibilities and improving people’s livelihood in Niger by building schools and clinics, as well as drilling wells for local community.

To help local people overcome severe desertification and water shortage in the Zinder, CNPC’s branch in Niger has launched a long-term forestation program in the region since 2011. So far, the branch has planted over 100,000 trees, and 80 percent of them have survived.

These stories are just the tip of an iceberg of the pragmatic oil cooperation between China and Africa. It is believed that the upcoming Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) will further vitalize the two sides’ collaboration in energy and resources.