Libya aims to purchase Canada's Verenex Energy as soon as possible, blocking a bid by China National Petroleum Corp, the head of Libya's National Oil Company said.

CNPC on February 26 launched a friendly C$443 million ($363 million) offer for Verenex to give the state-owned oil company a stake in a promising Libyan oil concession. Libya had the right to pre-empt the deal.

'I confirm that we are going to exercise our option for pre-emption. The whole of Verenex will be bought by us,' NOC chairman Shokri Ghanem told Reuters by telephone. 'As soon as we can finish the procedure.'    

He said the purchase would cost 'hundreds of millions of dollars', without giving more details.

Verenex holds promising oil assets in Libya, which sits on Africa's largest reserves. Last year, Verenex said an independent review of its Libyan properties found they could contain about 1.6 billion barrels of oil equivalent.

Last week, during a visit to Vienna, Ghanem said Libya would exercise its right of first refusal and buy Verenex. The Canadian company had put itself up for sale last year.

Verenex had no immediate comment on the Libyan plans. On March 18, Verenex said in a statement that Libyan officials have not told it that its deal with CNPC is off. - Reuters