Cnooc and Sinochem eye 40-per cent stake in Statoil’s Brazilian oilfield

China's two oil majors, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (Cnooc) and Sinochem Corporation, part of the Beijing-based Fortune 500 Sinochem Group are separately bidding for a 40-per cent stake in Norway's Statoil-owned Brazilian oilfield for as much as $3 billion.

Stavanger, Norway-based Statoil, which is 67 per cent owned by the Norwegian government and is the biggest offshore oil and gas company in the world, holds the license for the Peregrino field Block BM-C-7, located about 85kms off of the coast of Rio de Janeiro.

The field, estimated to hold recoverable reserves of approximately 300-600 million barrels of heavy crude oil, came into full control of Statoil when it acquired the other 50 per cent in 2008 from Anadarko Petroleum Corp, the largest independent oil and gas company in the US.

Statoil has been looking to sell part of the stake to reduce risk as well as have a partner to share the developmental costs, which will see the commissioning of the field by early next year, with an output of 0.1 million barrels per day after the initial phase of development.

Since Chinese oil majors have vast amount of funds and are looking for overseas energy acquisitions, Statoil believes that it would be the preferred choice of a partner as much more funds are needed to develop and explore in the area.

Analysts have valued the field at approximately $7.5 billion and parting with a 40 per cent stake would fetch Statoil between $2.5 and $3 billion.