Thailand's PTT Exploration and Production said on Tuesday it was looking at BP's assets in Vietnam but had not appointed financial advisers for any plan to bid for them.
"We are interested in BP's assets because it is in our target area, both in Vietnam and Southeast Asia," Chief Executive Anon Sirisaengtaksin told Reuters. He gave no details.
BP has said it planned to sell its stake in the Nam Con Son project, part of its goal of selling $30 billion in assets over the next 18 months to cover the cost of containing the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
BP operates Block 6.1 in the Nam Con Son basin, off Vietnam's southeast coast, with a 35 percent stake. Indian state-run explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp owns 45 percent and the rest is owned by Petrovietnam.
BP's interests, comprising stakes in the Lan Tay and Lan Do gas fields, the Nam Con Son pipeline and the Phu My power generation project, are worth $966 million, analysts at UBS said in a recent research note.
Apart from PTTEP, China's CNOOC and Sinopec and ONGC were likely to be interested in BP's stake in the project, bankers and analysts familiar with the asset told Reuters in July.
PTTEP, a subsidiary of Thailand's top energy firm PTT and ranked among Asia's top 10 explorers, is involved in about 40 oil and gas exploration and development projects.
PTTEP has interests in four petroleum blocks in Vietnam. Block 9-2 started operations last year and Block 16-1 is due to come onstream in the second half of 2011, Anon said. Another two fields are in the exploration phase.
PTTEP is looking to buy oil and gas assets overseas as part of a global expansion drive, while its parent PTT aims to be a multinational energy company by 2010.
PTTEP was looking at diluting its holdings in five petroleum blocks in Myanmar, Blocks M3, M4, M7, M9 and M11 in the Gulf of Martaban, Anon said.
"It could be more attractive to sell out the whole package," he said, adding PTTEP did not need the cash but was rather looking for potential partnerships.
Profits up
PTTEP, Thailand's second-most valuable company, reported a 63 percent rise in second-quarter net earnings thanks to higher petroleum sales and rising oil prices.
The company may raise its 2010 petroleum sales target to 260,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, up 2.4 percent from 254,000 boepd due to its strong first-half performance, Anon said adding PTTEP was likely to beat its net profit target this year.
The company is expected to post a 67 percent rise in 2010 profit to 36.9 billion baht, according to 23 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
In the first half of this year, PTTEP showed a net profit of 21 billion baht. Analysts said the company should benefit from rising output and higher petroleum prices as oil prices will stay high this year on the back of the global economic recovery.
On Tuesday, PTTEP shares ended down 2.3 percent at 148.50 baht, against a 1.5 percent drop in the market.
In the past three months, the stock has risen 2.7 percent, lagging a 14 percent rise of the market due to concerns about compensation claims over an oil spill in the Montara field off Australia. ($1 = 31.95 Baht)