(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Oman Oil Co will consider buying a stake in Occidental Petroleum Corporation's (Oxy) assets in the Middle East if the California, United States-based company makes an offer, according to H E Salim al Aufi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Oil and Gas.
According to recent media reports, Oxy, which is seeking to raise US$8bn by selling a stake in its Middle East business, said a political dispute in the region is complicating plans to sell to a single investor group.
Oxy may need to break up the assets and sell them to individual countries because political tensions have made it too complicated to win agreement for a single sale to a group made up of Oman, the UAE and Qatar, Oxy chief executive officer Steve Chazen told investors at the Howard Weil Energy Conference in New Orleans, US, recently.
''At their suggestions, we will probably make separate deals with the three countries with somewhat different assets in each one. In some ways, that is a lot simpler,'' Chazen said.
Speaking to mediapersons on the sidelines of the OGWA exhibition and conference on Monday, H E Aufi said, ''Oman Oil will be interested if Oxy makes an offer. But at this moment they [Oxy] are looking at potential partners they can bring with them. Our understanding is that Oxy will continue to be the operator in Oman. Currently, it is just a due diligence that they are conducting, and no offer is on the table.
''Whoever the selected partner is we will have to accept; but it will have no impact on Oxy's operations in Oman,'' H E Aufi said.
Oxy's Oman operations are concentrated in the Mukhaizna field in south-central Oman, the Safah and Wadi Latham fields, and Block 62 in northern Oman. Oxy operates four blocks in the sultanate. ''They will probably try to reduce their position in these four blocks, but will continue to be the operator. Oman Oil is always interested in any opportunity,'' added H E Au
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