Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Citigroup (NYSE:C) Says Cnooc Could Pay BP (NYSE:BP) $10.2 Billion for Asset in Argentina

Citigroup (NYSE:C) said today Cnooc Ltd. could make a bid of $10.2 billion for its 60 percent for BP's (NYSE:BP) stake in Argentina’s Pan American Energy LLC. Cnooc is the largest Chinese offshore exploration company.

The bid would be a 10 percent premium over what it paid earlier in 2010 for Pan American, but that is because they would assume control of the company if they are successful in their BP bid.

If this goes through, it would be close to double the approximate $10 billion in assets already sold, and two-thirds of the way toward the $30 billion BP is attempting to raise to meet liability obligations in relationship to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Cnooc is reportedly looking for a partner in the bid, which could come from Apache Corp. (NYSE:APA), Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE:OXY) or Total SA (NYSE:TOT), all of which have operations in Argentina already.

No comments: