Cnooc May Bid $10.2 Billion for BP Asset, Citi Says

[dipsydoodle]

Source: Bloomberg

Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Cnooc Ltd., China’s biggest offshore oil explorer, may bid $10.2 billion for BP Plc’s 60 percent stake in Argentina’s Pan American Energy LLC and will probably seek a partner in the acquisition, Citigroup Inc. said.

The estimate assumes Cnooc will offer a 10 percent premium over the value it paid earlier this year for 20 percent of Pan American because the BP stake would give it control of the company, Citigroup analysts Graham Cunningham and Tushar Bagla said in a report dated Sept. 14. Beijing-based Cnooc spokesman Jiang Yongzhi declined to comment on the research.

BP needs to complete the sale of as much as $30 billion of assets over the next 18 months to start making compensation payments for the largest oil spill in U.S. history earlier this year. Cnooc has spent more than $6 billion on acquisitions on three continents over the past four years to help meet oil demand in the world’s fastest-growing major economy.

Read more: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-09-16/cnooc-may-bid-10-2-billion-for-bp-asset-citi-says.html

[xchrom]

1. Very interesting. Nt