The Houston-based player has been told by new Sonangol chairwoman Isabel dos Santos to start marketing its 40% stakes in deep-water blocks 20 and 21 in the Kwanza basin that were due to be taken up by the Angolan company.

At a meeting between the companies in Luanda late last month, the pair "jointly agreed that Cobalt would market (the stakes) to sell the assets to a third party".

"On