China Petrochemical Corp., the Chinese state oil company also known as Sinopec Group, has agreed to acquire oil explorer Addax Petroleum for 8.27 billion Canadian dollars (US$7.2 billion), in what would be, if completed, the largest overseas takeover ever by a Chinese company.

Addax, which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and listed in London and Toronto, is one of the largest independent oil producers in West Africa and the Middle East, with oil fields in Nigeria and the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq.