The deal, expected to be signed imminently, is part of the latest campaign for Chinese national oil companies to seek more energy supplies from the international market to keep China’s economic engine running.

Sources told Upstream senior CNOOC executives including chairman Wang Yiling and Lou Weizhong, president of CNOOC’s LNG arm CNOOC Gas and Power, are part of a Chinese delegation led by Premier Li Keqiang to visit the UK this week.

Both