-
Advertorial
-
FOCUS
-
Guide
-
Lifestyle
-
Tech and Vogue
-
TechandScience
-
CHTF Special
-
Nanshan
-
Futian Today
-
Hit Bravo
-
Special Report
-
Junior Journalist Program
-
World Economy
-
Opinion
-
Diversions
-
Hotels
-
Movies
-
People
-
Person of the week
-
Weekend
-
Photo Highlights
-
Currency Focus
-
Kaleidoscope
-
Tech and Science
-
News Picks
-
Yes Teens
-
Budding Writers
-
Fun
-
Campus
-
Glamour
-
News
-
Digital Paper
-
Food drink
-
Majors_Forum
-
Speak Shenzhen
-
Shopping
-
Business_Markets
-
Restaurants
-
Travel
-
Investment
-
Hotels
-
Yearend Review
-
World
-
Sports
-
Entertainment
-
QINGDAO TODAY
-
In depth
-
Leisure Highlights
-
Markets
-
Business
-
Culture
-
China
-
Shenzhen
-
Important news
在线翻译:
szdaily -> World Economy -> 
As Western banks leave, China adds Brunei to new Silk Road
    2018-03-06  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

ON a tiny island off Brunei’s northern tip in the South China Sea, thousands of Chinese workers are building a refinery and petrochemical complex, along with a bridge connecting it to the capital, Bandar Seri Begawan.

When completed, the first phase of the US$3.4 billion complex on Muara Besar Island, run by China’s Hengyi Group, will be Brunei’s largest-ever foreign investment project, and comes at a time when the oil-dependent country needs it the most.

Brunei’s oil and gas reserves are expected to run out within two decades. As production falls, oil firms won’t be investing much into existing facilities, further hampering output, oil analysts say. As a result, the country’s oil revenues, which provide virtually all of Brunei’s government spending, are in steady decline.

With youth unemployment rising, Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah is trying to quickly reform the economy and diversify its sources of income, while fighting graft.

Brunei’s changing fortunes have been reflected by its financial industry. HSBC pulled out of Brunei last year, while Citibank exited in 2014 after 41 years. Bank of China, meanwhile, opened its first branch in the sultanate in December 2016.

The Muara Besar project is promising over 10,000 jobs, at least half of which would go to fresh graduates, media reports in Brunei said.

Hengyi Group, founded in 2011 and based in Bandar Seri Begawan, expects to complete the first phase of the refinery and petrochemical complex on Muara Besar by the end of the year, according to its website.

A US$12-billion second phase will expand the refinery capacity to 281,150 barrels per day, and build units to produce 1.5 million tons per year (tpy) of ethylene and 2 million tpy of paraxylene, the company said last month.

Total Chinese investment in Brunei is now estimated at US$4.1 billion, according to American Enterprise Institute’s China Global investment tracker.

That will almost certainly rise as China ramps its Belt and Road Initiative, which is also known as the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. It envisages linking China with Southeast Asia, Africa and Eurasia through a complex network of ports, roads, railways and industrial parks.

“Brunei is an important country along the 21st century Maritime Silk Road,” China’s Ambassador to Brunei Yang Jian said at the opening ceremony in February 2017 for a joint venture running Brunei’s largest container terminal.

Accumulated U.S. foreign investment in Brunei, by contrast, was just US$116 million in 2012, the latest figures available, according to the U.S. State Department.

China has invested about US$205 billion in East Asia between 2010 and 2017, according to the China Global investment tracker.

“The Sultanate is hard-pressed for investments to diversify its economy, and in this sense the Chinese investments are important to Brunei,” said Jatswan Singh, associate professor at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur. (SD-Agencies)

深圳报业集团版权所有, 未经授权禁止复制; Copyright 2010, All Rights Reserved.
Shenzhen Daily E-mail:szdaily@szszd.com.cn