NEW DELHI/DALAT, July 21: Indian state-run explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp wants to buy BP’s stake in an offshore Vietnam gas field, as Hanoi stressed BP must give priority to its partners in the sale of its energy assets.
ONGC has a 45 per cent share in Block 6.1 in the Nam Con Son basin, off Vietnam’s southeast coast, which is operated by BP with a 35 per cent stake, ONGC’s website shows. The rest is owned by Petrovietnam.
“Yes, we are interested,” ONGC head, Mr R.S. Sharma, said when asked if his firm was interested in buying BP’s stake.
Vietnam’s deputy minister of industry and trade, Mr Do Huu Hao, earlier said BP must give priority to its partners in sales of stakes in energy assets in Vietnam before making offers to outside parties.
A BP spokesman said the company was “exploring divestment options” for its interest in the Nam Con Son gas project, which the London-based firm says is one of Vietnam’s largest foreign investment projects.
The interest, which comprises stakes in the Lan Tay and Lan Do gas fields, the Nam Con Son pipeline and the Phu My power generation project, is worth $966 million, analysts at UBS said in a research note on Monday. BP has kicked off a $10 billion asset sale aimed at raising cash to pay for its Gulf of Mexico oil spill. On Tuesday, it said it planned to sell gas assets in Pakistan and Vietnam worth around $1.7 billion.BP shares were up 3.2 per cent by 1220 GMT in a strong market. China’s CNOOC and Sinopec, as well as Thailand’s PTTEP and ONGC were likely to show interest in BP’s stake in the project, bankers and analysts who are familiar with the asset had told Reuters last week. Mr Hao said BP had informally approached Vietnam on the stake sale.
“They need to have a formal letter give a proposal to the Vietnamese government,” he said.
“After that letter (they) need to discuss with Petrovietnam and partners, Mr Hao told Reuters and domestic media at a meeting of ASEAN energy ministers.