Friday, July 08, 2011
Dow Jones Newswires
HANOI
by Vu Trong Khanh
State-run Vietnam Oil and Gas Group, or PetroVietnam and its partners are considering buying ConocoPhillips' stakes in three oil and gas projects off the coast of Vietnam, PetroVietnam said.
"The reason why the firm [ConocoPhillips] is selling the stakes might be it is restructuring itself," PetroVietnam Director General Phung Dinh Thuc said in a statement on the website of PV Oil, a PetroVietnam unit. He didn't identify the partners.
ConocoPhillips' assets in Vietnam are valued at up to $1.5 billion, PV Oil said in the statement.
The remarks come at a time when ConocoPhillips is expected to give investors an update on its three-year restructuring plan presented in late 2009 and expanded this year. The plan includes selling up to $17 billion in assets. Conoco Senior Vice President of Planning and Strategy Alan Hirshberg has said in a May the company was looking at leaving countries where it has a small presence.
ConocoPhillips, the third-largest U.S. oil company by market value after ExxonMobil and Chevron, has a 23.3% stake in a group of five fields in Block 15-1, where oil production started in 2003, a 36% stake in Rang Dong Field in Block 15-2 in the Cuu Long basin and a 16.3% stake in the Nam Con Son Gas Pipeline project, it said.
ConocoPhillips spokesman John McLemore declined to comment saying the company's policy is not to discuss market speculation.
As host country, Vietnam has priority rights for any such purchase, Thuc said.
These oil fields are located 180 kilometers southeast of Ho Chi Minh City, in undisputed areas close to Vietnam's big Bach Ho field.
Thuc was quoted in the statement as saying oil production at the fields might have entered a "complicated stage," in an apparent reference to technical--rather than political--complexities.
Thuc referred to an increasingly bitter dispute between Vietnam and China over sovereignty of the South China Sea, or East Sea as it is known in Vietnam, but didn't directly link the dispute to the possible acquisition.
"PetroVietnam reiterates that Vietnam's sovereignty has been acknowledged by the international community, and therefore, it will not change its exploration and production plan in the East Sea," Thuc was quoted as saying.
The Vietnam-China sovereignty row heated up sharply recently when Hanoi accused Chinese vessels of harassing fisherman and cutting the cables of a vessel doing seismic oil exploration work in late May.
"The group will continue to use its Binh Minh 02 for seismic surveys in Vietnam's continental shelf, and will coordinate with related ministries and agencies to protect the operations of the ship," according to the statement. Binh Minh 02 is name of the ship which had its seismic cables cut.
"Our current conduct in the East Sea is being calm, to both contribute to the country's economy and to actively protect the nation's sovereignty in the sea," Thuc said.
Copyright (c) 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Oil & Gas Post
Promote Your Page Too
LINK
No comments:
Post a Comment