GoG News: CNOOC, Sinopec to buy Angola stake from Marathon
Fri Jul 17
* Oil block stake valued at $1.3 bln
* Marathon to maintain 10 pct interest
* State companies in drive to buy energy assets
By Tom Bergin and Michael Erman
LONDON/NEW YORK, July 17 (Reuters) - CNOOC (0883.HK: Quote) and Sinopec (600028.SS: Quote) have agreed to purchase a stake in an oil block offshore Angola from Marathon Oil (MRO.N: Quote) as the Chinese state-owned companies continue to buy up overseas energy assets.
The Chinese companies said in statements on Friday that they would form a 50-50 venture and pay $1.3 billion for a 20 percent stake in the highly prospective block, which has already yielded 12 discoveries.
Houston-based Marathon will retain a 10 percent working interest in the block, the company said.
The block is operated by French oil major Total (TOTF.PA: Quote), which owns a 30 percent stake, while Texas-based Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N: Quote) holds 15 percent, Portugal's Galp (GALP.LS: Quote) owns 5 percent, and Angola's state-owned oil company, Sonangol, owns 20 percent.
All of the other partners in the block have rights of first refusal over the sale, meaning any of those companies could step in and buy the 20 percent stake at the same price that the Chinese companies have offered.
In recent years, Chinese oil companies have been pacing the globe in a government-backed campaign to secure energy assets to fuel the fast-growing Asian powerhouse's economy.
Angola, which in recent years has become a major international oil producer and an OPEC member, has been a particular focus.
The deal price is a comedown for Marathon, which tried to sell the stake for $2 billion in 2008, sources involved in the process said at the time.
Bidders then included the CNOOC-Sinopec consortium, India's ONGC (ONGC.BO: Quote) and Brazil's Petrobras (PETR4.SA: Quote), the sources said. [ID:nHKG339706] [ID:nHKG131124]
In March 2008, Marathon said it planned to raise $2 billion to $4 billion from asset sales. With the sale of the Angola stake, the company will have sold $3.1 billion to $3.3 billion of assets.
A Marathon spokeswoman said the company was continuing to evaluate assets and expected to announce more sales.
The companies said they expected to close the transaction by the end of 2009.
Shares in Marathon were up unchanged at $30.14 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday. (Additional reporting by Arup Roychoudhury in Bangalore; Editing by Anil D'Silva, Simon Jessop and Lisa Von Ahn)
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