Exercising first right of refusal: Angola's Sonangol
Angola blocks Marathon sale
Angola has blocked the sale of Marathon Oil's 20% stake in Block 32 to China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) and Sinopec.
The Chinese duo announced on 17 July they had agreed to pay $1.3 billion for the stake in the offshore block in a 50-50 joint venture.
"We're going to decide to exercise the right of first refusal. It's formalised already," Manuel Vicente, the head of Angola's state-owned oil company Sonangol, told Reuters.
Sonangol, which holds 20% of Block 32, has the right of first refusal over the sale.
This right allows it, along with the other partners in the block, to step in and buy the stake for the price the Chinese companies have offered.
The highly prospective offshore block has already yielded 12 discoveries.
It is operated by French oil giant Total with a 30% percent stake, Texas-based ExxonMobil holds 15% while Portugal's Galp owns 5%.
Sonangol's refusal to allow the Chinese companies to buy the Marathon stake is a set-back for the Asian powerhouse's campaign to secure energy assets in Africa.
Angola rivals Nigeria as Africa's biggest oil producer.
China, the world's second largest oil consumer, imports more of its crude from Angola than from any other nation.
The Angolan Block 32 is estimated to have 1.5 billion barrels of oil reserves. Production is expected to start in 2012.
Houston-based Marathon announced the possible deal on 17 July.
At the time it said it planned to retain a 10% working interest in Block 32 after the sale was carried out.
A Marathon spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.
The $1.3 billion 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 and Brazil's Petrobras, the sources said.