Having been spurned in its $18 billion bid for US oil company Unocal, CNOOC, one of China’s largest oil companies, finally managed to close a significant oil deal in January when it announced the $2.27 billion cash purchase of a 45% interest in a Nigerian offshore oil and gas field, Oil Mining Licence 130, from South Atlantic Petroleum, a Nigerian company. The deal, once completed, will increase CNOOC’s offshore oil assets significantly – the well is expected to come into production in 2008. At an estimated acquisition price of $4.60 per barrel, the deal is a good purchase for CNOOC that will supply its US and European customers, rather than adding to China’s strategic reserves.