The following are the M&A deals conducted by Chinese oil makers in 2009:

In February, CNPC bought Verenex Energy for CAD$499 million. Verenex, a Canadian oil and gas maker, owns a 50 percent stake in part of Ghadames Basin in Libya.

In April, CNPC signed an agreement with KazMunaiGas (KMG), the Kazakh state-owned company, to set up a joint venture (JV) to purchase JSC MangistauMunaiGas (MMG) for US$3.3 billion.

In June, CNPC acquired a 45.51 percent stake of Singapore Petroleum Company Limited (SPC) for approximately US$1.02 billion. CNPC plans to purchase the remaining shares of SPC in the near future.

Also in June, Sinopec Group announced that it would spend US$7.24 billion to buy Addax in an effort to gain access to the European oil market; CNPC received approval from the Chinese government for its purchase of 49 percent of the shares of Japan's Nippon Oil Corp's refinery in Osaka.

A month later in July, CNPC-BP consortium won a bid to develop the southern Rumaila field, the biggest oil field project in Iraq; Sinopec Group and CNOOC agreed to buy a 20 percent stake in Angola's offshore deepwater Block 32 for US$1.3 billion from Marathon Oil Corp, awaiting for authoritative approval.

In mid-August, Sinopec Group sold 40 percent of its stake in exploration block NT/P76 to Taiwan's China Petroleum Corp (CPC). In the meantime, media reported that CNPC and CNOOC agreed on a joint-purchase of 75 percent of the stake that Repsol YPF has in its Argentine unit YPF. The two Chinese oil makers reportedly plan to pay US$13.2-14.5 billion for this deal.

(China.org.cn by Yan Pei August 14, 2009)