China Petrochemical Corp., or Sinopec Group, on Saturday confirmed it has signed a deal to buy Canada's Tanganyika Oil Co. Ltd. for 2.07 billion Canadian dollars (2 billion U.S. dollars, or 13.7 billion yuan).

According to an agreement signed between the two companies, the Chinese refiner has agreed to pay 31.50 Canadian dollars per share. The price represented a 8.8 percent premium to the closing price of 28.95 Canadian dollars on Friday.

The deal is subject to approval from China's government, a source at Sinopec Group told Xinhua.

Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration and Production Corp. (SIPC) made the bid to buy all Tanganyika outstanding shares. SIPC is Sinopec Group's subsidiary that undertakes overseas investments and operations in the upstream oil and gas sector.

The acquisition will be funded through SIPC's internal resources, Tanganyika said in a statement.

Tanganyika focuses on its operating interests in two Syrian production sharing agreements covering the Oudeh Block and the Tishrine and Sheik Mansour Blocks.

During the first half of 2008, its average gross field production was 16,670 barrels of oil per day.

(Xinhua News Agency September 27, 2008)