China battles oil majors for new Brazil fields

Chinese oil majors Cnooc Ltd. (0883.HKG) and China National Petroleum are among 11 companies set to bid for deep-water fields near Brazil’s southeastern coast that could become one of the world’s two largest, Bloomberg reported. The area, which is known as Libra, requires an estimated US$185 billion investment. Brazil’s oil regulator, ANP, estimates that Libra holds as much as 12 billion barrels of oil, the equivalent of three years’ consumption in China. Winning the license would change the strategy for Chinese state producers from buying into operating fields in Latin America to one of drilling and developing new deposits.