CHINA has scored another victory in its battle with India to secure strategic oil assets after CNOOC secured a major stake in the massive Akpo oilfield off Nigeria.

CNOOC’s $2.3 billion (£1.3 billion) purchase of the 45 per cent stake in the undeveloped field is the biggest overseas investment by the deal-hungry CNOOC, China’s dominant offshore oil and gas producer, since its failed $18.5 billion takeover bid for America’s Unocal last year.

China’s acquisition of the Akpo stake is another blow to ONGC, India’s dominant oil company, whose own bid for the Nigerian asset was blocked by the Indian Government last month on valuation and risk grounds.

ONGC has been beaten repeatedly by more aggressive Chinese bidders, having been eclipsed in the race for PetroKazakhstan and oilfields in Ecuador in the past six months.

The Indian oil giant is also in conflict with the Government, which owns 86 per cent of the group, over its strategy to pursue overseas acquisitions as opposed to developing India’s untapped resources. ONGC is seen as the logical suitor for the Edinburgh-based Cairn Energy, which made a big oil discovery in northwest India two years ago.

China and India are desperate to secure oil and gas assets to feed their booming economies. CNOOC’s Akpo investment still requires approval from the Chinese and Nigerian governments.

Akpo is thought to contain recoverable reserves of up to two billion barrels of oil and gas and is 200km off Nigeria’s coast.

CNOOC’s investment means that it is paying about $4.60 per barrel, compared with a $7.30 per barrel valuation placed on PetroKazakhstan by China National Petroleum Corp, the successful bidder.

Total, of France, the field’s operator, expects production from Akpo in late 2008, with peak output of 225,000 barrels a day.

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