Sinopec to invest in Repsol unit

Madrid - Chinese refiner Sinopec Group will invest $7.1 billion in Repsol YPF SA's Brazilian unit as the Spanish oil company raises funds to develop offshore projects in Brazil including the Guara and Carioca discoveries.

Sinopec will buy new shares in the Brazilian unit and will hold 40 percent of that division after the capital increase, Madrid-based Repsol said on Friday in an e-mailed statement. Repsol will hold the remaining 60 percent stake in the Brazilian unit. Its Brazilian assets are currently valued at $10.7 billion, Repsol said.

Repsol has stakes in blocks in Brazil's Santos, Campos and Espirito Santo basins, and has said it plans to invest as much as $5 billion there from 2010 through 2014, and as much as $9 billion from 2015 through 2019.