BP Khazzan box in Oman.
Source: BP Plc
BP Khazzan box in Oman.
Source: BP Plc
Source: BP Plc
China National Petroleum Corp. is in talks to get a component of BP Plc’s involvement in a key fuel box in Oman, according to others close to the issue.
China’s state oil giant is in complex talks with BP over a 10% stake in the Khazzan herbal fuel field, other people said. Minority participation can generate about $1.5 billion, other people said, who asked not to be known because the case is private.
No final decisions were made and others also expressed interest in the asset, other people said. Representatives of BP and CNPC declined to comment.
BP in the first talks to sell a stake of about 10% in the Khazzan herbal fuel field, Bloomberg News reported in June. The oil primary has a 60% stake in the project, while its spouse Oman Oil Co. it still has a 30% stake after promoting a 10% stake in Malaysia’s domestic oil company in 2018.
China has intensified its presence in the Middle East as Beijing seeks to strengthen its global influence and revive old industrial routes under the Belt and Road initiative. Last year, State Grid Corp. China agreed to obtain a 49% stake in Oman’s state-owned electricity transmission company in the first primary privatization through the largest OPEC oil producer in the Middle East.
CNPC has operations in five Middle Eastern countries, in addition to Oman, according to its website. It did so in Oman with the acquisition of a 5% stake in Block Five oil fund in 2002. The Chinese oil giant paid about $1.2 billion in 2018 for stakes in two oil and fuel concessions in Abu Dhabi.
BP’s shares fell 3.6 on Thursday as Brent’s futures fell to a peak in more than a month after dramatic US economic data. The recovery in global oil demand is weakening amid the resurgence of the coronavirus, even as the OPEC cartel and its partners, adding Oman, plan next week to resume some of the crude oil production detained deep within the pandemic.
– With Dinesh Nair, Vinicy Chan, Steven Yang, Qian Chen and Laura Hurst