18-04-09 China has extended $ 10 bn in loans to oil and gas-rich Kazakhstan in the latest Chinese deal locking up access to foreign resources.
China National Petroleum Corp, or CNPC, said it had signed an agreement to give financial support to the resource-rich central Asian country's national oil and gas company. Under the agreement, CNPC will loan up to $ 5 bn to KazMunaiGaz, the Chinese firm said.

CNPC and KazMunaiGaz also signed a separate agreement to buy a stake together in Kazakhstan-based MangistauMunaiGaz from Indonesia's Central Asia Petroleum. The $ 5-bn loan will help pay for the MangistauMunaiGaz deal and the construction of the Beineu-Bozoi-Akbulak gas pipeline, which will serve southern Kazakhstan.
The Export-Import Bank of China, a policy lender, also signed an agreement to lend $ 5 bn to the state-owned Development Bank of Kazakhstan.

From Calgary to Caracas, China has hammered out an unprecedented series of agreements over the past two months as plummeting energy and commodity prices have left once mighty producers over-extended and short on funds. A $ 25-bn loan locked in 15 mm tons of petrol a year for 20 years from Russia's Rosneft and Transneft. And for $ 400 mm, CNPC agreed to buy a Canadian firm's promising Libyan oil field.
China has also signed multi-billion-dollar deals to secure more oil from Venezuela.