中国最大的离岸石油生产商中海油近日同意以10.8亿美元收购切克萨斯公司在美国德克萨斯鹰滩页岩油气项目三分之一的股份。

此次交易中海油由美国文森•艾尔斯律师事务所和Covington & Burling提供法律服务。Chesapeake则由美国Commercial Law Group, Wilmer Cutler 和Wachtell,Lipton, Rosen & Katz担任法律顾问。　

Vinson & Elkins has again represented long-term client China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) on its 33.3% acquisition of Chesapeake Energy's oil and natural gas acreage in the Eagle Ford Shale project in South Texas for US$1.1bn. The deal represents the largest acquisition of US energy assets by a Chinese company and is also CNOOC's first onshore energy asset in the US.

The new CNOOC-Chesapeake deal marks a relatively new playing field for the oil & gas industry.
“Shale is rock that can be heated or treated with chemicals to release oil and gas.  This is very much a new and exciting area in the oil and gas industry because historically there did not exist the technology or it was just too expensive to extract in the past,” said David Blumental, Vinson & Elkins’ partner who led the firm’s team on the deal.

Vinson & Elkins has represented CNOOC on a number upstream M&A deals in Africa and the US – the CNOOC and Sinopec in their joint purchase of Talisman Energy’s oil & gas assets in Trinidad and Tobago for C$380m; and the negotiation of a long-term LNG sale and purchase agreement with a large European oil and gas company.

Vinson & Elkins has been one of the key players in the Sino-foreign energy and natural resources sector. The firm is also long-term advisor to Sinopec, having advised the company on its US$1.9bn acquisition of Toronto-listed Tanganyika Oil and its US$8bn acquisition of Addax Petroleum. ALB

Related stories:

• Vinson & Elkins anticipates Shanghai growth (14 January 2010)
• Sinopec relies on in-house team for US$4.65bn acquisition (30 April 2010)
• NA firms called in on Sinopec's largest overseas takeover (30 June 2009)