Reuters cited Mr Alexander Dodds TNK-BP's head of upstream operations as saying that Russia TNK-BP, developing a gas project in Vietnam acquired from its major shareholder BP has also bid for ConocoPhillips assets in the Asian country.
He said that "We did put a bid in."
TNK-BP, a 50-50 joint venture between BP and a quartet of Soviet-born businessmen has already taken over some gas assets in the South China Sea from its British co-owner and expressed its interest in expanding in Vietnam.
It has said it will bid for one block of nine blocks on offer by the Vietnamese government in a tender which opens this week.
State oil and gas group Petrovietnam has already said it will bid for the ConocoPhillips assets, three oil fields and one gas field which are further north in the South China Sea.
Their location at a fair distance from TNK-BP Vietnamese base means they are likely to be a low priority for the Russian producer but the bid offers more evidence that TNK-BP's expansion drive will not end with the first round of purchases.
TNK-BP which produces about 1.8 million barrels per day of oil equivalent, mostly at declining Soviet-era fields in Western Siberia is going further afield to boost production to compensate for output losses in that region which averaged 5% last year. It is deploying often-expensive new technology at some of Russia oldest fields and at the same time planning to launch new production in the latter half of the decade in Yamal an Arctic peninsula which is Russia's next energy frontier.
The foreign projects are yet another way of hedging declines in Russia.
TNK-BP management has board approval to pursue operations in three countries outside the former Soviet Union: Vietnam and Venezuela where it bought assets from BP as it sold down its portfolio to pay damages for the Macondo disaster and Brazil where it bought into an exploration business.
Mr Dodds said he may present the company's board with new upstream opportunities outside its existing asset base. He said that "You never say never. If something came to the table that was interesting, it is our responsibility to get the shareholders to look at it. If they want to pursue that is their call."
TNK has also said that it would like to apply some of the skills acquired at foreign projects to improve its operations in Russia, offering Venezuela experience with heavy oil as an example to be followed at its Arctic Russkoye field despite differences in climate.
Mr Francis Sommer vice president for production and technology said capital spending was likely to rise about 10% next year from this year estimated USD 4.6 billion to fund output growth.
He said that "Greenfield (spending) comes in big chunks. There might be a big spend on Rospan in a certain year."
The government is in the process of re-engineering the tax regime to make upstream investment, particularly in brownfields and more attractive.
(Sourced from Reuters)
