Two of the mainland's top state-controlled oil producers, CNOOC and China Petrochemical Corp, have teamed up to buy a stake in a deep-sea oilfield in Angola for US$1.3 billion, a fresh attempt by the world's second-largest energy user to secure its oil supply.
CNOOC, China's dominant offshore oil and gas producer, yesterday said it had agreed to buy a 20 per cent working interest in Block 32, off the coast of Angola, from the fourth-largest US oil producer, Marathon Oil Corp.
CNOOC will buy the oil project through a 50-50 joint venture with Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration and Production Corp, a subsidiary of the mainland's second-biggest oil producer China Petrochemical.
Block 32, with an area of 5,090 square kilometres, is an oil-rich deep-water exploration block with 12 discoveries.
The block is located about 150 kilometres off the coast in a water depth of 1,400 to 2,200 metres, CNOOC said in a statement, without providing an estimate of the oil resources.
The transaction is expected to be closed by the end of this year, subject to government and regulatory approvals and the pre-emption rights of the other parties to the production-sharing contract and joint operating agreement, it said.
Gordon Kwan, the regional head of energy research at Mirae Asset Securities, said CNOOC stands to gain deep-water exploration skills from French oil producer Total through the acquisition. Total is the largest shareholder and operator of the project.
