BEIJING, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), the country's largest oil and gas producer, will speed up overseas acquisitions in regions such as Africa and South America this year, said Wednesday's China Daily.

    Currently, the company is in talks with foreign partners for several deals, said the newspaper, citing an unnamed company executive.

    The relatively low prices of overseas assets this year have offered the company unprecedented opportunities, the company executive said, without elaborating.

    Zhang Guobao, vice-chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planning body, said last month that CNPC was holding talks with Spanish oil and gas producer Repsol.

    CNPC President Jiang Jiemin said earlier that the company would boost cooperation with oil companies in resources-rich countries such as Kazakhstan, Venezuela and Qatar this year.

    Overseas mergers and acquisitions will be a "key strategic development target for the company", said Jiang.

    Analysts said that domestic oil companies' quickened pace in overseas development was in line with China's increasing oil imports.

    According to a recent report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), 64.5 percent of the country's oil consumption is likely to be met by imports in 2020.

    China should further diversify its oil importing sources to ensure sustainable supplies. At present the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific are the three main regions for Chinese oil imports, said experts.

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