TIMELINE-Chinese investments in Latin America

March 15 (Reuters) - Chinese oil firm CNOOC's (0883.HK) purchase of a stake in Argentina's Bridas Holdings gives it a foothold in reserve-rich Latin America and should ease investor worries about its aggressive output targets. [ID:nSGE62E0MT]

Here is a Timeline on Chinese investments in Latin America's energy and commodities sector since 2005:

Jan. 2005 - China's oil and gas giant Sinopec Corp. signs an agreement with Cuba's state-run Cubapetroleo (Cupet) to jointly produce oil on the Caribbean island. China's state-owned Minmetals is investing $500 million in a joint venture to produce 68,000 tonnes a year of ferro-nickel in eastern Cuba.

Feb. 2005 - China's Minmetals Corporation signs an agreement to invest an initial $550 million, which could eventually rise to $2 billion, to set up a joint venture with Chilean state copper company Codelco.

Sept. 2005 - China's Shengli International Petroleum Development Co. Ltd. signs a framework pact with state-run Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolovianos to invest $1.5 billion over 40 years in Bolivia's onshore oil and gas sector.

-- Chinese-led consortium Andes Petroleum, which includes China National Petroleum Corp. and Sinopec group, buys Canada-based Encana's oil and pipeline assets in Ecuador for $1.42 billion.

June 2007 - Peru Copper Inc. agrees to be bought by state-owned Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. in a friendly deal worth C$840 million ($792 million) in cash, the Canada-headquartered company says.

May 2009 - China Development Bank announces that it will lend $10 billion to Petrobras, the state-owned Brazilian oil company, in exchange for a guaranteed supply of oil over the next decade.

July 2009 - China forges a $1 billion loan-for-oil deal with South American OPEC member Ecuador.

Sept. 2009 - Venezuela signs a $16 billion investment deal with China over three years to raise oil output by several hundred thousand barrels per day in the OPEC member's Orinoco belt.

Oct. 2009 - Chinese steel and iron ore group Baosteel proposes to pay 1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) for a 30 percent stake in Anglo American's huge Minas Rio iron ore mine in Brazil.

March 2010 - CNOOC purchases a 50 percent stake in Argentina's Bridas Holdings for $3.1 billion.

For a FACTBOX on China's outbound M&A in 2009 and the past decade, click on [ID:nLDE60E1R3]

(Writing by Carl Bagh, Bangalore Editorial Reference Unit; Editing by Hans Peters)