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India May Bid for BP Stake in Vietnam to Secure Gas Supplies
India May Bid for BP Stake in Vietnam to Secure Gas Supplies - Bloomberg
By Rakteem Katakey and James Paton - Jul 21, 2010
Murli Deora, India's minister of petroleum. Photographer: Pankaj Nangia/Bloomberg News
Indias government may offer to buy BP Plcs stake in a natural gas field in Vietnam, as the U.K. energy company sells $10 billion of assets to pay for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
We have read that BP may offer its stake in the field and we will be very happy to consider it, Indian Oil Minister Murli Deora said by telephone yesterday from Vietnam, where he is on an official visit. Deora said he will discuss the plan with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung today.
Oil & Natural Gas Corp., Indias biggest explorer, may increase its 45 percent stake in the venture, said Victor Shum, senior principal at energy consultants Purvin & Gertz Inc. in Singapore. BP agreed July 20 to sell oil and gas fields in the U.S., Canada and Egypt to Apache Corp. for $7 billion and said it plans to sell assets in Pakistan and Vietnam.
Vietnam as a geography will be easy for investments and ONGC knows the geology of the area, said Jigar Shah, head of research at Kim Eng Securities India Pvt. Ltd. in Mumbai. ONGC has been trying very hard to expand overseas and this is a good opportunity.
ONGC, based in New Delhi, is spearheading the South Asian nations quest for energy resources overseas, competing with China for fields from Africa to Venezuela. R.S. Sharma, chairman of ONGC, and R.S. Butola, managing director of ONGC Videsh Ltd., the explorers overseas unit, are part of Deoras delegation, Indias oil ministry said.
Spill Fund
There havent been any discussions on acquiring BPs stake in Vietnam, an ONGC official said, declining to be identified because he isnt allowed to speak to the media.
ONGC shares fell 0.5 percent to 1,266 rupees at 9:08 a.m. in Mumbai trading after climbing as much as 1 percent. The stock has gained 8 percent this year compared with a 3 percent increase in the benchmark Sensitive Index.
BP aims to raise about $10 billion selling assets to feed a $20 billion fund for spill victims demanded by U.S. President Barack Obama.
BP spokesman David Nicholas said the company has just informed the governments of the intention to sell the assets and wont comment on estimates of their value or potential buyers.
The Nam Con Son gas project in Vietnam is valued at $1.3 billion, the London-based company said on its website. BPs assets in Vietnam and Pakistan may be worth $1.7 billion, Jason Kenney, an analyst at ING Wholesale Banking in Edinburgh, said by telephone yesterday.
ONGC has a 45 percent stake in Block 06.1 off the south Vietnamese coast, in which BP, the operator, has a 35 percent share, according to the South Asian nation companys website.
Formosa Interested
The Indian explorer sold shares in the Lan Tay field in Vietnam to BP after winning the exploration license for the area in 1988, according to the website of ONGC Videsh.
The area started producing gas in January 2003. ONGCs share from the project was 1.848 billion cubic meters of gas in the year ended March 2009, according to the website. ONGC wholly owns two other offshore blocks in Vietnam, which do not produce oil or gas.
Formosa Plastics Group, Taiwans biggest diversified industrial company, would be interested in buying BP assets if approached by the oil company, Lee Chih-tsuen, a member of the groups executive board, said by phone yesterday.
BP has exploration holdings in deep waters 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Karachi and has expanded operations in Pakistan since buying Occidental Petroleum Corp.s oil and gas interests in 2007, the U.K. company said on its website.
BP contributes about 6 percent of Pakistans gas production and 15 percent of its oil output, said Asim Wahab Khan, research analyst at Foundation Securities Ltd. in Karachi. BP operations in Pakistan may be worth as much as $500 million, he said.
Potential buyers of those BP holdings may be located in the Middle East since the exploration giants might prefer buying assets in Vietnam compared to Pakistan, he said.
To contact the reporters on this story: Rakteem Katakey in New Delhi at rkatakey@bloomberg.net; James Paton in Sydney at jpaton4@bloomberg.net.
India May Bid for BP Stake in Vietnam to Secure Gas Supplies - Bloomberg
By Rakteem Katakey and James Paton - Jul 21, 2010
Murli Deora, India's minister of petroleum. Photographer: Pankaj Nangia/Bloomberg News
Indias government may offer to buy BP Plcs stake in a natural gas field in Vietnam, as the U.K. energy company sells $10 billion of assets to pay for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
We have read that BP may offer its stake in the field and we will be very happy to consider it, Indian Oil Minister Murli Deora said by telephone yesterday from Vietnam, where he is on an official visit. Deora said he will discuss the plan with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung today.
Oil & Natural Gas Corp., Indias biggest explorer, may increase its 45 percent stake in the venture, said Victor Shum, senior principal at energy consultants Purvin & Gertz Inc. in Singapore. BP agreed July 20 to sell oil and gas fields in the U.S., Canada and Egypt to Apache Corp. for $7 billion and said it plans to sell assets in Pakistan and Vietnam.
Vietnam as a geography will be easy for investments and ONGC knows the geology of the area, said Jigar Shah, head of research at Kim Eng Securities India Pvt. Ltd. in Mumbai. ONGC has been trying very hard to expand overseas and this is a good opportunity.
ONGC, based in New Delhi, is spearheading the South Asian nations quest for energy resources overseas, competing with China for fields from Africa to Venezuela. R.S. Sharma, chairman of ONGC, and R.S. Butola, managing director of ONGC Videsh Ltd., the explorers overseas unit, are part of Deoras delegation, Indias oil ministry said.
Spill Fund
There havent been any discussions on acquiring BPs stake in Vietnam, an ONGC official said, declining to be identified because he isnt allowed to speak to the media.
ONGC shares fell 0.5 percent to 1,266 rupees at 9:08 a.m. in Mumbai trading after climbing as much as 1 percent. The stock has gained 8 percent this year compared with a 3 percent increase in the benchmark Sensitive Index.
BP aims to raise about $10 billion selling assets to feed a $20 billion fund for spill victims demanded by U.S. President Barack Obama.
BP spokesman David Nicholas said the company has just informed the governments of the intention to sell the assets and wont comment on estimates of their value or potential buyers.
The Nam Con Son gas project in Vietnam is valued at $1.3 billion, the London-based company said on its website. BPs assets in Vietnam and Pakistan may be worth $1.7 billion, Jason Kenney, an analyst at ING Wholesale Banking in Edinburgh, said by telephone yesterday.
ONGC has a 45 percent stake in Block 06.1 off the south Vietnamese coast, in which BP, the operator, has a 35 percent share, according to the South Asian nation companys website.
Formosa Interested
The Indian explorer sold shares in the Lan Tay field in Vietnam to BP after winning the exploration license for the area in 1988, according to the website of ONGC Videsh.
The area started producing gas in January 2003. ONGCs share from the project was 1.848 billion cubic meters of gas in the year ended March 2009, according to the website. ONGC wholly owns two other offshore blocks in Vietnam, which do not produce oil or gas.
Formosa Plastics Group, Taiwans biggest diversified industrial company, would be interested in buying BP assets if approached by the oil company, Lee Chih-tsuen, a member of the groups executive board, said by phone yesterday.
BP has exploration holdings in deep waters 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Karachi and has expanded operations in Pakistan since buying Occidental Petroleum Corp.s oil and gas interests in 2007, the U.K. company said on its website.
BP contributes about 6 percent of Pakistans gas production and 15 percent of its oil output, said Asim Wahab Khan, research analyst at Foundation Securities Ltd. in Karachi. BP operations in Pakistan may be worth as much as $500 million, he said.
Potential buyers of those BP holdings may be located in the Middle East since the exploration giants might prefer buying assets in Vietnam compared to Pakistan, he said.
To contact the reporters on this story: Rakteem Katakey in New Delhi at rkatakey@bloomberg.net; James Paton in Sydney at jpaton4@bloomberg.net.
