The takeover of Nexen Inc., the Canadian independent, by China’s CNOOC Ltd, means 28,000BOPD net production more from Nigerian oil fields for a Chinese company.
Nexen holds 20% equity in Nigeria’s deepwater Oil Mining Lease(OML130) which entitles it to 28,000BOPD of the gross 140,000BOPD. Nexen also holds a 40% interest in OML 115 in Africa’s largest oil producer, but that is a non- producing asset.
China “topped up” production from Nigerian oilfields in mid November 2012 when Sinopec bought TOTAL’s 20% in the same OML 130. The new acquisition by CNOOC, potentially pushes up China’s production from Nigeria to 209,000BOPD. This means that by the time the two transactions are completely approved, China Inc will be close to grabbing TOTAL’s position as the fourth largest producer of oil in Nigeria. Curiously, Chinese companies don’t come anywhere close to these figures, or such a position in Angolan production, even though Angola’s state company Sonangol, has formed Joint Ventures with Chinese companies to look for opportunities.
Canadian authorities approved the $15.1 billion takeover in early December 2012. It was China’s biggest foreign takeover.
