Sinopec, Asia's top oil refiner, will buy a stake in upstream assets in Angola for $2.46 billion, Reuters reported. Sinopec, China's No.2 oil and gas producer after PetroChina, said its unit in Hong Kong would buy 55 percent of Sonangol Sinopec International Ltd., which has deepwater assets in Angola, from its parent China Petrochemical Corp., its first acquisition of overseas upstream assets. With the Angola transaction, Sinopec's remaining proven reserves of crude oil will increase 3.6 percent and its daily crude oil production will rise 8.8 percent, the firm said. "This acquisition, of one of its parent's highest quality assets, marks the entry of Sinopec into the overseas upstream E&P (exploration and production) business, and forms the basis for the company to acquire future new oil and gas assets," the firm said in a statement. Sinopec said in a separate statement that its board had proposed to issue A-share convertible bonds that could total up to 23 billion Yuan ($3.37 billion) for an ethylene project in Wuhan, and for some of its refining and pipeline projects.
