Cnooc is China’s biggest offshore oil explorer and the deal adds 318 million barrels of reserves to its inventory.
Bridas is controlled by Argentine businessman Carlos Bulgheroni.
The company owns a 40 percent stake in Pan American Energy LLC, Argentina’s largest oil exporter.
Cnooc estimated that the Bridas investment would raise its average daily production by 46,000 barrels of oil.
At the end of 2008, Cnooc was producing 526,000 barrels of oil a day.
Bloomberg data showed that China’s oil and gas companies spent at least US$13 billion on acquisitions since 2008 as it scours the globe for resources.
China is the world’s second-biggest energy consumer after the United States and relied on imports for more than half its crude oil needs in 2009.
“Given China’s increasing reliance on imported crude oil and the nation’s robust demand in fuel driven by the rapid growth in automobile sales, it is a priority for the Chinese government and its companies to secure resources globally,” Bloomberg reported Wang Aochao, head of China energy research at UOB-Kay Hian as saying.
Source: Bloomberg
