24-09-09 The Angola state-owned firm Sonangol will buy Marathon Oil's 20 % stake in Angola's Block 32, valued at $ 1.3 bn, after blocking the sale of the stake to two Chinese companies, a Sonangol spokesman said.
"We will buy the stake," he said. A Marathon Oil spokesman had said in early September that because of confidentiality agreements the company could not comment on where the Angola asset sale stood. The Houston-based firm still aims to keep a 10 % interest in the block.

Sonangol, which owns 20 % in the highly prospective block, said earlier this month it had exercised the right of first refusal over Marathon's decision to sell the stake to Chinese state owned firms CNOOC and Sinopec. This right allows it to step in as the buyer for the price the Chinese firms had offered: $ 1.3 bn.
Marathon announced the possible deal with the Chinese companies on July 19th. On the same day, banking sources told Sonangol was seeking a $ 1 bn loan.

The highly prospective offshore block has already yielded 12 discoveries. It is operated by French oil major Total, with a 30 % stake with partners including the Texas-based ExxonMobil 15 % and Portugal's Galp 5 %.
Sonangol's decision to buy Marathon's stake is seen as a setback 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.

Angolan Block 32 is estimated to have 1.5 bn barrels of oil reserves.
Production is expected to start in 2012.