ONGC has a 45 percent share in Block 6.1 in the Nam Con
Son basin, off Vietnam's southeast coast, which is operated by BP with a 35
percent stake, ONGC's website shows. The rest is owned by Petrovietnam.
"Yes, we are interested," ONGC head R.S. Sharma
said, when asked if his firm was interested in buying BP's stake.
Vietnam's deputy minister of industry and trade Do Huu
Hao earlier said BP must give priority to its partners in sales of stakes in
energy assets in Vietnam before making offers to outside parties.
A BP spokesman said the company was "exploring
divestment options" for its interest in the Nam Con Son gas project, which
the London-based firm says is one of Vietnam's largest foreign investment
projects.
The interest, which comprises stakes in the Lan Tay and
Lan Do gas fields, the Nam Con Son pipeline and the Phu My power generation
project, is worth $966 million, analysts at UBS said in a research note on
Monday.
BP has kicked off a $10 billion asset sale aimed at
raising cash to pay for its Gulf of Mexico oil spill. On Tuesday, it said it
planned to sell gas assets in Pakistan and Vietnam worth around $1.7 billion.
China's CNOOC and Sinopec, as well as Thailand's PTTEP
and s ONGC were likely to show interest in BP's stake in the project, bankers
and analysts who are familiar with the asset had told Reuters last week.
Hao said BP had informally approached Vietnam on the
stake sale.
"They need to have a formal letter with a proposal
to the Vietnamese government," he said. "After that letter (they)
need to discuss with Petrovietnam and partners, Hao told Reuters and domestic
media at a meeting of ASEAN energy ministers.
"In principle, priority should be given to sell the
stake to partners," he said. "If partners do not buy, then they can
sell to outside parties and in case of selling to outside parties, they (BP)
will need to seek permission from the Vietnamese government on the supply of
bidding documents." Other stakeholders in the Nam Con Son pipeline include
ConocoPhillips and Petrovietnam, while Singapore's Sembcorp Industries and
Japan's Kyushu Electric Power also have stakes in the Phu My 3 power plant.
Vietnam's relatively small status as an oil producer and
flat production growth over the last five years meant Nam Con Son is unlikely
to attract global players such as ExxonMobil and Chevron, some analysts had
said.
Analysts say Chinese oil majors could also come up
against political opposition in Vietnam, where suspicion of China runs high due
to the territorial disputes between the countries in the South China Sea.
BP also plans to sell its upstream assets in Pakistan
comprising a number of producing fields and exploration blocks in the southern
Sindh province, estimated by UBS to be worth $690 million.
