Chinese state-controlled oil company CNOOC Ltd (
The deal adds to a multibillion-dollar string of foreign acquisitions by Chinese oil companies, which are aggressively pursuing energy supplies to fuel the country's booming economy.
The agreement, which needs approval from the Nigerian and Chinese governments, covers part of the oil-rich Niger Delta region, CNOOC said.
The company said the area includes the Akpo oil field discovered in 2000, and three other "significant discoveries."
India turns away
Another contender for the field was India's biggest oil company, state-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corp, which submitted a winning US$2 billion bid last month. But India's Cabinet blocked the deal, saying that it wasn't commercially viable.
The Nigeria deal serves CNOOC's desire to grow "through the exploration and development of offshore fields and achieving geographic diversification of the company's portfolio," company chairman Fu Chengyu (
Hong Kong-based CNOOC said it would pay for the deal from its own cash reserves.
The firm didn't say if oil from the Nigerian field would be exported to China or sold elsewhere.
Scottish consulting firm Wood Mackenzie has estimated Akpo's recoverable oil reserves at 620 million barrels and natural gas at 75 billion cubic meters, the Asian Wall Street Journal said.
Growing demand
China imports more than 40 percent of its estimated daily consumption of 6 million barrels of oil -- a proportion expected to grow amid surging economic growth.
China first became a net oil importer in the 1990s after meeting its own needs for decades. It is now among the world's top foreign oil consumers.
CNOOC last year offered US$18.5 billion for Los Angeles-based Unocal, but withdrew its bid in August after opposition from US politicians.
The Chinese government's China National Offshore Oil Corp owns 70 percent of CNOOC's shares.
Despite government ties, Fu has previously insisted that CNOOC's decisions are motivated by commercial considerations, not official policy.
In China's biggest foreign deal to date, its leading state-owned oil company, China National Petroleum Corp (中國石油天然氣), agreed last year to pay US$4.2 billion for a producer in neighboring Kazakhstan.
Chinese oil firms also have signed exploration or production deals in Sudan, Venezuela and elsewhere.
Last month, CNPC and India's ONGC agreed to jointly acquire oil production rights in Syria.
Visiting Bolivian President-elect Evo Morales on Sunday invited China's state energy firms to help develop his country's vast gas reserves.
Beijing’s continued provocations in the Taiwan Strait reveal its intention to unilaterally change the “status quo” in the area, the US Department of State said on Saturday, calling for a peaceful resolution to cross-strait issues. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) reported that four China Coast Guard patrol vessels entered restricted and prohibited waters near Kinmen County on Friday and again on Saturday. A State Department spokesperson said that Washington was aware of the incidents, and urged all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from unilaterally changing the “status quo.” “Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is in line with our [the
EXTENDED RANGE: Hsiung Sheng missiles, 100 of which might be deployed by the end of the year, could reach Chinese command posts and airport runways, a source said A NT$16.9 billion (US$534.93 million) project to upgrade the military’s missile defense systems would be completed this year, allowing the deployment of at least 100 long-range Hsiung Sheng missiles and providing more deterrence against China, military sources said on Saturday. Hsiung Sheng missiles are an extended-range version of the Hsiung Feng IIE (HF-2E) surface-to-surface cruise missile, and are believed to have a range of up to 1,200km, which would allow them to hit targets well inside China. They went into mass production in 2022, the sources said. The project is part of a special budget for the Ministry of National Defense aimed at
READY TO WORK: Taiwan is eager to cooperate and is hopeful that like-minded states will continue to advocate for its inclusion in regional organizations, Lai said Maintaining the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, and peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region must be a top priority, president-elect William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after meeting with a delegation of US academics. Leaders of the G7, US President Joe Biden and other international heads of state have voiced concerns about the situation in the Strait, as stability in the region is necessary for a safe, peaceful and prosperous world, Lai said. The vice president, who is to be inaugurated in May, welcomed the delegation and thanked them for their support for Taiwan and issues concerning the Strait. The international community
COOPERATION: Two crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank off Kinmen were rescued, two were found dead and another two were still missing at press time The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) was yesterday working with Chinese rescuers to find two missing crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank southwest of Kinmen County yesterday, killing two crew. The joint operation managed to rescue two of the boat’s six crewmembers, but two were already dead when they were pulled from the water, the agency said in a statement. Rescuers are still searching for two others from the Min Long Yu 61222, a boat registered in China’s Fujian Province that capsized and sank 1.03 nautical miles (1.9km) southwest of Dongding Island (東碇), it added. CGA Director-General Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) told a