Sinopec president Wang Jiming met NZ Prime Minister Helen Clark privately last Thursday, while he was in Auckland for the Inside the New China Summit, and talked with Crown Minerals officials the day after.

Associate energy minister Harry Duynhoven told EnergyReview.net that he understood Sinopec Corporation had had some earlier informal discussions with Crown Minerals but that this visit was the first face-to-face contact.

“It was a fantastic opportunity to talk with them about some serious exploration,” Duynhoven told ERN in New Plymouth this morning.

Sinopec was primarily interested in acquiring Taranaki or Northland acreage – either through buying stakes in existing permits, farm-ins, or bidding for new acreage in this year’s scheduled offshore Northland Basin blocks offer and next year’s Taranaki Basin round.

Crown Minerals had undertaken to provide more information for Sinopec Corp, short for China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, to study.

Duynhoven said some of the same Crown Minerals officials who met Sinopec representatives – resource group manager Adam Feeley and investment unit manager Mark Aliprantis – were now on their way to the US to follow-up American inquiries regarding oil and gas exploration opportunities “down under”.

Sinopec is a publicly listed company with the Chinese government owning 55.06% through Sinopec Group, domestic banks and asset management companies holding a further 22.36%, foreign investors 19.35%, and domestic investors 3.23%.

Duynhoven added that China's interest in New Zealand's energy scene was not confined to petroleum.

Black Sands Exploration, a subsidiary of China's Best Quality Life Group, had applied to Crown Minerals for a permit to mine a 3617 square kilometre stretch of coast between Taranaki and Kaipara for iron sands.