Vinson & Elkins is advising China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., also known as Sinopec, on a $2.5 billion deal with French oil and gas company Total S.A., according to sibling publication The Am Law Daily.
Total is selling its 20-percent stake in Nigerian offshore block OML 138, which it jointly owns with Chevron Corp., Exxon Mobil Corp., and Calgary-based Nexen Inc. The Usan oil field, producing since February, is included in OML 138. The deal is contingent upon approval by Nigerian regulators.
Total’s decision to sell the stake is part of a larger asset sale program announced by the company in September, as it seeks raise $15 billion to $20 billion by 2014.
A Hong Kong-based spokesperson for Vinson & Elkins declined to name the partners involved in the deal. She confirmed that Sinopec’s in-house lawyers handled matters of Chinese law.
Sinopec has been a longtime client of the firm. Vinson & Elkins advised the Chinese company earlier this year on its $8.5 billion joint venture with Saudi Aramco, as well as the $2.1 billion acquisition of Canada’s Daylight Energy in 2011. The firm also acted for Sinopec on two multibillion-dollar acquisitions in Brazil and Argentina in 2010.
London-based SNR Denton is advising Total, although a spokesperson for the firm declined Am Law Daily’s requests for the names of the partners involved. The firm worked with Total’s in-house legal team, which was led by general counsel Peter Herbel, on the deal.
Email: tbrennan@alm.com.
