China

Equinor’s history in China goes back to the early 1980s, when we set up our first international office in Beijing. Our partnership with the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) led to our first operatorship, the Lufeng oil field in the South China Sea, which was in production from 1997 to 2009, five years longer than originally planned.

In 2007, Equinor entered into a strategic cooperation with China National Petroleum Corporation, covering domestic and international exploration and production, research and development, gas value chains, new energy and downstream. In 2010 we agreed with Sinopec to conduct a joint study on their QiongDongNan deepwater block in the South China Sea. And in 2014 we delivered our first liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo to China.

Today, the company has established a crude trading business with China and is engaged in international partnerships with other Chinese companies including CNPC, CNOOC, and other large state-owned enterprises.

Currently, the main function of Equinor’s China organisation is to develop new commercial opportunities with Chinese counterparts.