China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) are expected to sign as early as this month a preliminary deal to invest in oil and gas exploration and refining, Reuters reported on Friday, quoting sources in the know, including CNPC officials. CNPC’s international investment unit, CNPC International, is taking the lead in talks with ADNOC, and the deal is expected to be a broad-based cooperation agreement to invest in the upstream and downstream segments, a Chinese oil official told Reuters. The signing is expected to take place in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) later this month during a high-level Chinese visit to the Middle Eastern oil-producing country. “We see a trend of some Gulf countries such as Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Saudi Arabia moving to diversify away from their oil and gas reliant economy, by divesting some of those assets to free up capital […]