- Dow Jones Says Shell and Two China State-Owned Oil Companies are in Negotiations for Equity Stakes in Venture - NEW YORK, April 29 /PRNewswire/ -- On April 13, 2009, Dow Jones reported that Royal Dutch Shell PLC is in advanced talks with China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), the parent of Hong Kong-listed PetroChina Co., and China Petrochemical Corp., the parent of listed company China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., on a possible joint bid to develop the Kirkuk oil field in northern Iraq. This news provided an indication that China may be ready to trade access to its own domestic energy reserves in exchange for expertise gained from international oil majors in bidding for, and operating, major foreign energy projects. The Dow Jones article said that in return for taking CNPC along in Iraq's landmark first postwar bidding for development service contracts in Iraq's huge and under-developed oil and gas fields, Shell hopes to gain CNPC's approval for a production-sharing contract for the Jinqiu gas field in China's southwestern Sichuan province. The news, unmatched by rival news organizations Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg on April 13, later ran in The Wall Street Journal. At a press conference in Beijing on April 14, Shell CEO Jeroen van der Veer confirmed that Shell is in talks with Chinese oil companies on a joint bid to develop an oil field in Iraq. More than 435,000 financial professionals in 66 countries turn to Dow Jones for breaking news, commentary and analysis, including market-moving corporate, economic, market, financial and political news. Reporting from nearly 90 bureaus across the globe, Dow Jones publishes up to 12,000 news items each day, in 11 languages, covering all asset classes. Dow Jones's products help its customers build relationships, create market opportunities and enhance trust in their services. For more information about Dow Jones Newswires, visit http://www.dowjonesnewswires.com/ or to learn more about the Dow Jones Enterprise Media Group, visit http://www.solutions.dowjones.com/. ABOUT DOW JONES Dow Jones & Company (http://www.dowjones.com/) is a News Corporation company (Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA; ASX: NWS, NWSLV; http://www.newscorp.com/). Dow Jones is a leading provider of global business news and information services. Its Consumer Media Group publishes The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, MarketWatch and the Far Eastern Economic Review. Its Enterprise Media Group includes Dow Jones Newswires, Dow Jones Factiva, Dow Jones Client Solutions, Dow Jones Indexes and Dow Jones Financial Information Services. Its Local Media Group operates community-based information franchises. Dow Jones owns 50% of SmartMoney and 33% of STOXX Ltd. and provides news content to radio stations in the U.S. DATASOURCE: Dow Jones & Company CONTACT: Tiffany Richardson of Dow Jones Enterprise Media Group, +1-609-627-2101, Web Site: http://www.dowjones.com/

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