China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) has offered to pay between $13.2 billion and $14.5 billion for a 75% stake in Spanish oil giant Repsol's Argentine unit YPF, according to local media.

Executives from China’s largest oil company CNPC, the parent company of top Asian oil and gas producer PetroChina , and Repsol have begun talks over the offer and the initial reaction from Repsol's board members has receptive, the South China Morning Post reported today.

But Liu Weijiang, a CNPC official in charge of responding to foreign media inquiries, told Reuters that he did not have any information on the deal.

The bid is lower than the $17 billion offer that CNPC was prepared to make, reported by the paper last week.

Repsol had said it received several offers for a stake in YPF. China's top offshore oil and gas producer CNOOC , India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Russian companies are also reportedly eyeing stakes in the company.