Ghana: country's giant Jubilee field at the heart of a tussle between ExxonMobil and CNOOC-GNPC.
CNOOC may upset ExxonMobil's Jubilee bid
China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) may team up with Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) in a joint bid to challenge ExxonMobil’s $4 billion offer for Kosmos Energy’s stake in the giant Jubilee oilfield off Ghana.
A source told Dow Jones the joint bid "will be competitive to what ExxonMobil has offered".
Kosmos has reportedly informed bidders last week it has entered into a bidding agreement with ExxonMobil for a stake sale in Jubilee.
However, a GNPC source later told Reuters the state-run outfit is still pursuing a deal with Kosmos on the Jubilee stake.
"I don't see the ExxonMobil-Kosmos deal as done," GNPC chief executive Thomas Manu told Dow Jones in an interview.
The Ghanaian oil minister also expressed his unhappiness with not being notified that Kosmos had made a deal with Exxon and said he believed the country had the right to block the offer.
GNPC holds 13.8% of the Jubilee field.
In August, CNOOC has confirmed it will join the race for Jubilee, although a company spokesperson declined to comment on the said partnership with GNPC.
Chinese oil companies have announced plans to spend at least $16 billion to buy oil and gas in Africa since 2006, Bloomberg reported. The move is in line with the ballooning energy demand of an emerging economic giant.
China’s oil consumption doubled over the last decade to 8 million barrels per day last year, according to BP’s Statistical Review.
Ghana is set to become West Africa’s newest oil exporter when production begins at the Jubilee discovery. The field may hold 1.8 billion barrels of oil and will produce 120,000 barrels of crude per day, according to London-based Tullow Oil, the project operator.