Emerging economy oil companies accounted for more than half the sector's biggest mergers and acquisitions by value this year, the Financial Times reported on its Web site Sunday, citing PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Buyers from those economies, led by Chinese and Russian companies, accounted for $24.2 billion of the total $48 billion value of the 50 largest oil and gas deals in the second quarter, up from one-fifth in 2008, the newspaper reported PwC as saying.
The leading buyers were Sinopec of China, which agreed to pay $8.8 billion for London-listed Addax Petroleum, and Gazprom (SIBN.RS) of Russia, which spent a total of $8.3 billion, the FT reported.
Among the top 10 oil and gas deals, three involved Chinese buyers and three a Russian buyer - Gazprom, the FT said. In addition, one was the $6 billion merger of London-listed Heritage Oil (HOIL.LN) with Genel Energy of Turkey, it added.