LONDON—With the ink barely dry on China Petrochemical Corp.'s $1.5 billion investment deal with Canada's Talisman Energy Inc., TLM.T -0.18% the state-controlled Chinese company's chairman says it is already exploring ways to widen the partnership, underscoring the voracious country's eagerness to secure more energy resources around the world by whatever means necessary.

The company, known as Sinopec, in July agreed to acquire a 49% stake in U.K. North Sea oil and gas assets owned by Talisman as part of a wider effort to boost production and earnings from abroad.

Sinopec Chairman Fu Chengyu said Monday in a rare interview in London that he had dinner on Sunday with the Canadian company's chief executive, and that "We had a very good discussion about in the future expanding our cooperation."

"Currently we just have good will, we don't have specific areas" of possible new ties, he said, ruling out the possibility of a full acquisition of Talisman by Sinopec.

Indeed, Mr. Fu insisted that Sinopec's expansion strategy doesn't contemplate takeovers of Western companies but partnerships such as the one with Talisman instead. The strategy contrasts with that of another large, state-controlled Chinese oil company, Cnooc Ltd., 0883.HK -0.88% which last summer launched a bold bid to take over another Canadian oil producer, Nexen Inc. NXY.T +1.54%

"This is our long-term strategy," Mr. Fu said of his more cautious, partnership approach to doing deals. Sinopec is one of the world's largest oil firms, a producer and refiner of oil and gas and petrochemical products.

Mr. Fu's experience with foreign oil deals was shaped largely by the attempted takeover in 2005 of Unocal Corp. by Cnooc, of which he was chairman at the time. The deal ran intoopposition in the U.S., as politicians and others fretted about the possibility of putting important energy resources in Chinese hands. Cnooc was ultimately forced to withdraw the offer. At $18.5 billion, it would have been the largest takeover of a foreign company by a Chinese entity.

In his new role, Mr. Fu has dramatically altered his approach to obtaining energy resources abroad. Six months before the Talisman deal, Sinopec agreed to pay roughly $2.5 billion to Devon Energy Corp. DVN +0.20% of Oklahoma for stakes in drilling properties in Ohio and elsewhere. The deal closed in April, while the Talisman deal is yet to be completed.

In striking such deals, it is important "to make your local partners and their communities feel happy," he said. He said his cautious approach reflects many Western governments' continued wariness of Chinese suitors for their companies.

"There's still a long way to go," he said. The West needs more time, "to understand how we do this, and why we do this," he said.

Cnooc's approach to deals, meanwhile, has remained much the same since Mr. Fu's departure. It remains to be seen whether Canadian authorities will ultimately bless its $15 billion bid for Nexen.

When asked whether Cnooc would be pursuing acquisitions like Nexen if he was still running it, Mr. Fu said "each company has their own strategy" and declined to comment further.

Sinopec's goal in signing foreign partnership deals is to boost market production overall and not to bring resources it acquires back to China, Mr. Fu said. But doing such deals also has the benefit for the country of hedging the raw-materials costs for its vast industrial machinery. If, for example, oil prices surge, any increased costs for its refining operations could be offset by higher earnings from production assets abroad.

Takeover speculation has swirled around Talisman since the Calgary-based oil-and-gas producer's CEO stepped down in September and was replaced with current chief Hal Kvisle. Sinopec has been mentioned by some analysts as a potential buyer of the company, which has a market value of $11.5 billion.

Mr. Fu didn't rule out being involved in a takeover of Talisman at some point, saying "if they want to sell, I think there's a lot of people who want to buy. We might join them, but we would not just buy it ourselves." He added that Talisman isn't currently looking for a buyer. A spokeswoman for Talisman didn't return a call.

The International Energy Agency forecast Monday that the boom of production in oil and gas trapped in shale rock could turn the U.S. into the world's largest oil producer and greatly diminish its reliance on imports.

Although China has reserves of shale gas of similar size to the U.S., Mr. Fu cautioned the country may not be able to mimic the rapid production boom seen in the U.S., helping explain why the company is looking abroad to invest.

China's shale-rock formations are buried deeper and located in mountainous areas with little infrastructure, he said.

"If you put all those together, costs will be much higher than in the U.S.," and production will take longer. "The next five years are just a starting-phase for China. The boom may be in 10 years," he said.