GDF Suez, Shenergy Group to Cooperate in Energy Sector

GDF Suez and China based Shenergy Group on Monday agreed to cooperate in the field of energy, mainly LNG.

Gérard Mestrallet, Chairman and CEO of GDF Suez, signed a cooperation agreement with Wu Jianxiong, CEO of Shenergy Group, to develop cooperation in energy sector, and joint exploration and sharing of development opportunities in Shanghai, the French firm announced Monday.

“The scope of cooperation includes natural gas, energy services industry, power generation and related businesses, mainly covering liquefied natural gas, decentralized energy, gas to power generation, low emission energy application, and infrastructure projects,” GDF said. Both companies aim at developing technical cooperation and communication in natural gas transportation and distribution, including the organization of staff training, learning mission, and enhance technical cooperation and communication in power generation.

GDF has been present in China for over 40 years. In natural gas, GDF signed a worldwide partnership in 2011 with the Chinese sovereign fund CIC granting the latter a 30% share in its exploration and production activities. It sold 2.3 million metric tons of LNG to the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), with deliveries beginning in 2013, and installed the first floating regasification terminal in China.

In 2012, the French company also began a cooperation agreement with PetroChina to explore the upstream gas potential in Qatar, then extended the agreement to gas storage in China in 2013 (development support for six sites). GDF currently assists Shanghai Gas Group, a unit of Shenergy Group, for the expansion of one of its LNG terminals.

Shenergy Group is a major investor and constructor of large energy infrastructures in Shanghai and the main supplier of electricity and gas energy to the city.