TNAG-0947-FCO40-1166-Oil-developments-in-and-around-Hong-Kong-1980 — Page 159

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Miss Rycroft, ESSD

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CHINA OFFSHORE OIL: HONG KONG INTERESTS

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DESK OFAC

During aleall on the department yesterday Dorward, Director of Trade Industry and Customs in Hong Kong

yong said that although no formal announcement had been made, lot2of oilmen in Hong Kong appeared to be very pleased with themselves over the results of seismic findings in the South China Sea. The implications were that there were sizeable oil reserves worthy of commercial exploitation.

2. Mr Dorward spoke in general terms about Hong Kong's interests in possible downstream activities which might be better located in Hong Kong than in China itself. He had in mind not only the siting of regional administrative headquarters for various companies, but also refining and petrochemical installations. He was particularly keen to see British petrochemical companies take advantage of the possible opportunities which discovery of substantial oil reserves off China might present. He said that BP, in particular, were showing a lot of interest but thought that British industry would need encouragement and had said as much during his calls on DOT and DOI.

3. The Hong Kong Government is generally anxous to improve Britain's trade and investment effort in the territory and if major opportunities in the oil and petrochemical sectors are to become available, we, in conjunction with other interested Whitehall Departments, should perhaps see what we can do to encourage them in this direction. Unless you see any objections, X I would like to have a preliminary chat with BP in order to get a major oil company's view on how they see Hong Kong's role, if indeed offshore South China Sea oil is to become a reality.

20 March 1980

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