Australia and China struck their biggest trade deal ever on Tuesday as the world's two most valuable listed oil companies, Exxon Mobil and PetroChina, agreed a $41 billion liquefied natural gas deal. "It's a statement about the nature of our two economies and the fact that Australia is important to China, just like China is important to Australia," Australian Resources Minister Martin Ferguson told Reuters in Beijing. The gas sale agreement between Exxon and PetroChina comes just weeks after Exxon inked a A$10 billion Gorgon LNG sales deal with India's Petronet, which marked Australia's first ever LNG contract with India.
