OKLAHOMA CITY, July 2 (UPI) -- China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. closed a deal to take an equity share in nearly 1 million acres of oil and gas acreage in Oklahoma, Chesapeake Energy said.
Chinese companies are looking to tap into U.S. expertise in shale developments for domestic development. China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., known also as Sinopec, paid $2.2 billion in 2011 for access to five shale deposits in a deal with U.S. company Devon Energy Corp.
Chesapeake said it finalized a deal announced in February with Sinopec for half of its interest in the 850,000 acres its holds in the Mississippi Lime formation for $1.02 billion in cash.
Chesapeake said production from the Mississippi Lime formation and similar assets in northern Oklahoma was around 34,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day during the fourth quarter of 2012.
Chesapeake Chief Executive Officer Doug Lawler said in a statement Monday his company was "pleased" to have its Chinese counterpart as its new partner in Oklahoma.
China's official Xinhua News Agency described the Sinopec deal as one of the largest for any Chinese company when the agreement was announced in February.
