- China has become the largest crude oil operator in the U.K. North Sea, boosted Cnooc's Nexen (CEO +1.2%), which extracts nearly 200K bbl/day of oil across two of the North Sea's biggest fields, according to an analysis by The Times.
- The scale of Chinese growth in the region meant that the U.K. handed ~£2B ($2.6B) in tax breaks to the Chinese state-run oil company last year, the analysis says.
- China has moved to dominate British oil production in what one expert describes as an exercise in “soft power” as Beijing expands its global role.