China's Sinopec presents a counterbid for Imperial

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Imperial admitted today that it has received "another approach in relation to a possible cash offer for the business."

The offer has come from Sinopec, the state-controlled China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation. Its bid is aimed at trumping a putative offer last month from ONGC, the Indian state-controlled oil and gas company.

Imperial shares, which fell sharply from a high of more than 1700p earlier this year on fears of Russian state interference in its operations, saw its stock leap 7% today, up 76p at 1150p.

That is a rise of more than 50% over the last month, since before the emergence of ONGC's interest.

The ONGC offer was said to be worth around 1290p a share but doubts over the deliverability of the Indian bid had seen a sluggish share price response.

Imperial has been under a cloud since it rebuffed the advances of Kremlin-controlled state giant Gazprom earlier this year.

Imperial is chaired by its founder Peter Levine, a Brit who was for some time honorary consul of Kazakhstan in London and who floated the company in 2004.

It produces 10,000 barrels of oil a day from assets in Russia and Kazakhstan, with plans to ramp up output to 80,000 barrels a day over the next three years.

If the Sinopec bid for Imperial is successful it would be the largest takeover of a London-listed British company by a Chinese corporation.

The move also represents the latest sign that Chinese companies are scouring the world for natural resources and commodities companies.