Partnership with foreign firm likely
China National Petroleum Corp, the largest oil producer on the mainland, is considering pairing up with a foreign oil company to make a bid for Australian oil and gas major Santos, market sources said.
'They've looked at a couple of parties but haven't put out any feelers. It would probably be a European firm that doesn't have a huge presence in Australia already,' said one source. 'There's really only a handful of buyers that could pull that deal off now.'
Energy companies' share prices have taken a hammering as oil prices plummeted from historic highs hit earlier this year.
Apart from CNPC, potential bidders could include Chevron, BP, Eni and Total, industry observers said. CNPC declined to comment.
'Eni doesn't have a presence, and that would make them more open to a deal, but they've already spent a lot on acquisitions so [CNPC] would have to offer them pretty good terms,' said a London-based oil and gas analyst.
