Mitsubishi, India's ONGC Eyeing Murphy's Malaysian Oil, Gas Assets

Mitsubishi Corp and Indian state owned companies ONGC and Oil India among others have shown interest in acquiring Murphy Oil Corp's Malaysian oil and gas assets.

News agency Reuters said in a report Thursday that the Japanese trading firm has submitted a non-binding bid valuing the assets at about $2.5 billion.

The two Indian firms are likely to submit a joint bid for the assets, one of the sources directly involved in the process told Reuters. Final decision however would be taken by the Indian government.

ONGC and Oil India are likely to submit preliminary bids for the Murphy stake by the end of this month after getting mandatory internal approvals, Reuters reported.

Murphy, which has interests in oil and gas fields in Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Brunei and Australia, has invited bids for a 30 percent stake in its Malaysian assets.

The US based company holds majority interests in seven separate production sharing contracts (PSCs): Block K, Block H, Block P, SK 309, SK 311 and SK 314A, and three gas holding agreements in PM 311. In 2013, Murphy's Malaysia net production was about 86,000 boepd, and we booked total proved reserves 125 MMBO and 406 BCF, according to company's website.