CNOOC and Sinopec plan to buy a 20% stake in an Angolan oilfield from American energy firm Marathon Oil for US$1.3 billion through a 50-50 joint venture, the Financial Times reported. The investment in an area known as block 32 would first require that other partners in the area – France’s Total, Angolan state-owned firm Sonangol, ExxonMobil and Portugal’s Galp – not offer to buy the stake at the price being offered by the Chinese firms. The deal values the assets lower than Marathon’s attempts to sell the stake for up to US$2 billion. The deal is the latest in a string of energy and resource investments by Chinese firms; in late June, Sinopec announced that it would buy Toronto- and London-listed Addax Petroleum.
For more on China’s outbound investment in energy, see our July cover story.
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