Sinochem Corp, a state-owned oil product and fertiliser trader with growing operations in upstream oil and gas production and refining, has clinched a US$465 million oilfield acquisition in Yemen.
The parent of Hong Kong-listed fertiliser distributor and producer, Sinofert Holdings, yesterday said it had signed an agreement to buy an indirect 16.78 per cent stake in block 10 of the East Shabwa Development area in eastern Yemen, on the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula.
The stake was bought in cash from London-based oil firm Soco International, which said it was selling the Yemeni asset to help finance the development of its projects in Vietnam.
It is Sinochem's third big overseas acquisition in five years, as it seeks to become an up and downstream integrated oil and gas firm after its monopoly on crude oil trading expired in 1992.
The block had net proven reserves of 18.7 million barrels of oil and proved and probable reserves of 29.6 million barrels at the end of 2006, Soco said in a statement.
Analysts said the purchase price of about US$24.80 a barrel of proven reserve was not cheap.