Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A) is in talks with Chinese oil firm CNOOC (0883.HK) for a 30 percent stake in a $7.5 billion refining project, the China Daily newspaper reported on Tuesday, citing CNOOC officials. The project, expected to become operational in 2014 with annual refining capacity of 10 million tonnes and ethylene production of 1 million tonnes, is the second phase of CNOOC's Huizhou refinery at Daya Bay in Guangdong province. It is expected to get a green light from the government in the first half of this year, Dong Xiaoli, general manager of the Huizhou refinery, told China Daily. The paper quoted Zhu Mingcai, deputy chief executive of CSPC, a 50/50 joint venture between the two firms, as saying Shell had shown strong interest in participating in the second phase plant, as had several other international petrochemical companies.
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