Sinopec to sell $3.5 bn bonds next week: report

China National Petroleum Corp., the country’s biggest oil company, is seeking its first stake in the U.S. as Chinese explorers with US$40-billion of cash try to join an energy renaissance unlocking billions of barrels of crude. “We are currently studying” investing in U.S. oil, Jiang Jiemin, chairman of the state-run company, said Monday at the National People’s Congress meetings in Beijing. Domestic rival China Petrochemical Corp. last month agreed to buy stakes in an Oklahoma field from Chesapeake Energy Corp. for US$1.02-billion.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec) , Asia’s largest oil refiner, will buy half of Chesapeake Energy Corp’s Mississippi Lime oil and gas properties for $1.02 billion, becoming the latest Chinese company to pick up shale assets in North America. Chesapeake shares were up 2% at $20.90 in premarket trading on Monday. The stock has risen about 23% this year. Output from shale fields in the United States and Canada has jumped over the last three years due to the advent of drilling methods such as hydraulic fracturing.

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Zacks.com submits: China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (SNP) (Sinopec), one of the largest petroleum and petrochemical companies in Asia, has signed a deal with Chevron (CVX) to join the $6 billion-plus Gendalo-Gehem deepwater natural gas project off Ind

Money Morning submits: By Kerri Shannon Chinese state oil company China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) (SNP) said Friday that it would invest $7.1 billion in the Brazilian unit of Spain's Repsol YPF S.A. (REP) to form one of the largest private energy companies in Latin America.

(Reuters) -

Woodside Petroleum Ltd.’s purchase of a stake in Israel’s largest natural gas deposit takes Asia-Pacific oil and gas acquisitions to a record US$99-billion this year, tying the U.S. for the first time. Australia’s second-largest petroleum producer yesterday said it will pay partners including Noble Energy Inc. an initial US$696-million and as much as US$2.3-billion for part of the Leviathan field. Deals by U.S. energy companies have fallen 35% to US$98.7-billion in 2012, while Asia-Pacific purchases increased 3.8%, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Reuters -- "Appalachia has fallen from its prime when steel mills and coal mines anchored middle-class communities and offered hope there always would be enough work to go around. In this historically poor region nestled in the misty mountains of the eastern United States, most steel mills shut down long ago and the coal workforce has shrunk by 90 percent in the past 40 years.