China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC), the country's leading offshore oil producer, is seeking to invest in a giant oilfield in Ghana to enhance its overseas development plans.

Beijing-based CNOOC is in talks with Ghana National Petroleum Corp to make a bid for a stake in the Jubilee oilfield, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed people.

This would rival ExxonMobil's $4-billion offer for the field, which is located off the coast of Ghana, the report said.

A CNOOC spokesman yesterday declined to comment on the report. CNOOC President Fu Chengyu had earlier told China Daily that the company was taking a "patient approach" to overseas development.

The Jubilee field is said to hold 1.8 billion barrels of oil and would produce 120,000 barrels of crude a day. It is one of the largest oil discoveries in recent years and holds a type of light, sweet crude oil.

With nearby discoveries in Sierra Leone, the region in which Jubilee is located is emerging as a major new oil region and Ghana is expected to be an oil exporter by the end of next year.

CNOOC and ExxonMobil would both be vying for Kosmos Energy's stake in Jubilee. Kosmos is a US oil explorer partly owned by Blackstone Group LP and Warburg Pincus LLC.