While Abu Dhabi government-owned International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) studies plans for five refineries worldwide with a total investment of $20 billion, Mubadala Oil and Gas, part of Abu Dhabi's investment firm Mubadala Development, said on Thursday it will look at BP assets going on sale.

However, senior vice president at Mubadala's oil and gas unit David Douglas said the company is not in direct talks with the UK oil giant.

"Like most oil companies that are expanding, we will be looking at what's available," he told Zawya Dow Jones.

BP, which is struggling to cope with the fallout from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster, earlier this week rejected a proposal by Sinopec, China's second-largest oil and gas producer, to acquire some of its assets.

IPIC, meanwhile, is considering building refinery projects in UAE's Fujairah, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan and Jordan, either alone or with partners, reported UK-based Meed magazine on Thursday.

The plans reportedly include a potential investment in Jordan Petroleum Refinery, which is looking at a $2 billion revamp of its refinery in the Al Zarqa area.

Separately, a report from Abu Dhabi's Department of Economic Development estimated the emirate's proven oil reserves at 98.2 billion barrels, making it the seventh largest in the world.

The figure in the "The Oil and Gas Year, Abu Dhabi 2010" report is slightly higher than the 97.8 billion barrels estimated by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) earlier this year.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), the state-owned fuel producer, late on Wednesday reduced its July official selling prices for all four crude grades by about 2.4 percent.

The company cut the price for Murban crude, its largest export grade, to $73 a barrel on long-term contracts.

Lower Zakum was lowered by $1.80 a barrel to $72.75. Abu Dhabi, the UAE's capital and holder of most of its oil, lowered Upper Zakum by $1.65 a barrel to $71.20. Umm Shaif was cut to $72.45 a barrel.

In another development, the Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME), the premier energy-focused commodities exchange in the East of Suez, said it set two new trading records in July as the exchange entered its fourth year of operations.

The DME, partly owned by US derivatives exchange CME Group, said it had a record number of 20,160 outstanding futures contracts held by market participants in its flagship DME Oman crude oil futures contract during July.

"Open interest in DME Oman has increased steadily in 2010, the latest figure exceeding the previous total open interest record of 19,867 contracts set in February 2010," a statement from the exchange said.

The number of DME Oman contracts going to physical delivery also reached an all-time high, with a record 15.1 million barrels due for physical delivery in September, exceeding the previous high of 14.1 million barrels set for delivery in August 2010, it added.

DME Oman is the largest physically delivered crude oil futures contract in the world with an average of 12 million barrels per month delivered through the exchange in 2010.

Launched in June 2007, the DME-listed Oman crude oil futures contract is the only physically delivered Middle East sour crude oil futures contract. It is set to provide a benchmark price for Middle East crude exports to Asia.