CNPC Poised for $2 Billion Purchase of Petrobras Assets

China’s biggest state-owned oil company is preparing to pay more than $2 billion for Petroleo Brasileiro SA’s Peruvian assets, according to Bloomberg. A sale could come as early as next month, and would help finance Petrobras’ $237 billion plan to build refineries, develop deepwater fields, and increase its output.

China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) has been buying up assets in Brazil, Russia, and Kazakhstan. Most recently, it joined Petrobras, Shell Brazil, Total, and China National Offshore Oil Corporation in a 35-year deal to explore the deepwater Libra oil field in Brazil. In June, it signed a $270 billion oil supply deal with Russia’s Rosneft and in mid-October, it acquired a 49 percent stake in Rosneft’s recently-consolidated East Siberian oil venture, Taas Yuriakh.

CNPC is also in talks with Russian natural gas giant Gazprom for a gas supply deal that is expected to be inked by year’s end.