Sinopec and CNOOC to buy Marathon's stake in Angola block

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., the country's largest refiner, and CNOOC Ltd. agreed to buy a 20 % stake in Angola's offshore deepwater Block 32 for $ 1.3 bn from Marathon Oil. Marathon, the fourth-largest US oil company, will keep a 10 % interest in the block, site of 12 announced petroleum discoveries, after the sale, which is expected to close by year-end, the companies said.
It would be the fourth and largest divestiture this year of an exploration and production stake by Houston-based Marathon, the largest US Midwest oil refiner, after it announced an asset review in March 2008.

Marathon had initially sought an Angola transaction valued at more than $ 2 bn, said Mark Gilman, an analyst at The Benchmark Co. in New York.
"Marathon's thoughts as to the value of this interest, at least in our view, were way out of line previously," said Gilman. "It's still a good price for them."
Lee Warren, a Marathon spokeswoman, said the Angola deal "indicates substantial value that we're receiving." She declined to comment on whether Marathon sought a price higher than $ 1.3 bn.

Marathon has said its review and sale of assets would generate $ 2 bn to $ 4 bn on a pre-tax basis. The company said April 30 that it had announced transactions valued at about $ 1.6 bn. Marathon said in June that it agreed to sell its stake in an offshore Ireland natural-gas project to Vermilion Energy Trust for at least $ 235 mm.
The company also has completed the sale of US oil and natural-gas fields for $ 181.1 mm to Apache. It sold an Irish unit to Petroliam Nasional, or Petronas, Malaysia's state-owned oil company, for $ 180 mm in April. The announcement brings the total value of announced asset sales to more than $ 3 bn since March 2008.

Marathon said its partners in the block have the right to acquire the stake by matching the joint offer by CNOOC and China Petroleum, known as Sinopec. Total operates the block and holds a 30 % interest. Angola's state-owned Sonangol has 20 %, a unit of ExxonMobil owns 15 %, and state-owned Petroleos de Portugal owns 5 %, Marathon said.
Standard Chartered Bank advised Marathon on the Angola block sale. Credit Suisse Group advised CNOOC and China Petroleum. Both companies are based in Beijing.