BP CEO says may sell Vietnam assets to TNK-BP

BP may sell its main Vietnam assets worth around $1 billion (631 million pounds) to its Russian joint venture, TNK-BP, without inviting other parties to bid, Chief Executive Bob Dudley said on Monday.

“It could be transferred to one of our affiliates,” Dudley told reporters, adding TNK-BP was such an affiliate.

TNK-BP decided on Friday to make the British major an offer for its Venezuelan and Vietnamese assets, a source familiar with the decision said.

PetroVietnam, Vietnam’s state oil and gas company, has said it may be interested in buying the assets, as has India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp.

Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC) is also interested in buying the stake in the Nam Con Son gas project off the coast of Vietnam, a Vietnamese newspaper reported on Friday.

BP has a 50 percent stake in TNK-BP, Russia’s third-largest oil producer, and a private sale would allow BP to raise cash to help pay for its Gulf of Mexico oil spill, while retaining an interest in the assets.

Dudley told reporters it was too early to say how much the safety measures BP was introducing in the wake of the oil spill, which some US lawmakers have said was caused by the company’s cost-cutting measures, will lift BP’s operating costs going forward. – Reuters

Tags: BP assets in Vietnam, BP Vietnam