Vietnam Should Buy BP Assets worth $1.3B

The government of Vietnam should consider buying BP assets in the country totaling $1.3 billion, according to local news sources.

“Vietnam could be active to buy all BP’s assets in the nation and then seek investors for new joint ventures,” said Lawyer Tran Huu Huynh, head of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI)’s Legislation Department.

BP is waiting for approval from the Vietnamese government to start a promotion campaign for its asset sales in the Southeast Asian country to raise funds for its Mexico oil spill, Vneconomy online newspaper reported on July 24, citing a company source.

Meanwhile, Robert Wine, a press officer from London-based BP headquarters told the Vietnam Investment Review (VIR) newspaper recently that the company has started the sales process and aimed to complete deals by the end of this year.

He attributed the sales will comprise all BP’s upstream assets and its stakes in gas production, pipeline and power station in Vietnam.

A BP Vietnam representative was cited by VIR as saying that the firm had submitted a proposal to the Vietnamese government to seek approval to sell and started advertising its assets to potential investors.

Recently, a PetroVietnam official said that BP representatives met PetroVietnam high-ranking officials earlier last week to announce its restructuring plan but Vietnamese partners refused to comment on the possibility that PetroVietnam could buy BP’s assets.

A BP Vietnam official in Hanoi was cited by the Dau tu newspaper as saying Monday that BP holds stakes in four projects in Vietnam, comprising Lan Tay-Lan Do gas field in Block 06.1 offshore Vietnam, the Nam Con Son pipeline system, Phu My 3 power plant and BP Petco Lubricant Joint Venture but it have no plan to set BP Petco assets.

BP holds a 35% stake in the Lan Tay-Lan Do gas field project that totals $567.3 million and has been operational since April 2003, said the official who declined to be named.

BP owns a 32.67% stake in the Nam Con Son gas pipeline project worth $426.8 million that has been operational since November, comprising an offshore 378.5km long pipeline transporting gas from the Lan Tay-Lan Do gas field to Dinh Co station, the Dinh Co station to treat the gas, and an ashore 29m long pipeline to transport gas from the Dinh Co station to the Phu My gas distribution center.

BP, SembCorp Utilities Pte Ltd of Singapore and a Japanese consortium share equal stakes in the $385-million Phu My 3 power plant with a capacity of 720 MW, which has been operational since March 2004.

BP plans to sell up to $10 billion worth of its assets in the next 12 months to cover costs of the spill. – Dautu

Tags: BP assets in Vietnam, BP Vietnam