The flagship state oil firms of China and India are looking to bid for privately owned Kazakh oil producer Nations Energy, in a deal that could be worth $2 billion, sources said on Wednesday.Canada-based Nations Energy, whose main asset is a large heavy-crude oilfield in Kazakhstan with nearly a half-billion barrels of reserves, could find a buyer early next year, becoming the latest firm to capitalise on strong demand for oil from the huge Asian nations to drive their booming economies.‘‘There is a formal process that just started recently,’’ an officer said, on conditions of anonymity.India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) may bid as both countries race to grab overseas oil and gas assets.CNPC, the parent body of Hong Kong and New York listed PetroChina, had earlier beat out ONGC in the $4.2 billion take over of PetroKazakhstan, another big independent Kazakh producer. China has direct access to Kazakh crude via a new pipeline.It was not immediately clear whether the sell-off would fall foul of a Kazakh law signed in October that aimed to give the central Asian state the right to buy foreign-held stakes in oil companies that are put up for sale.Vladimir Shkolnik, Kazakhstan’s oil minister, said she had not heard of Nations Energy’s move to be be sold.‘‘We’ll look into it once they’ve contacted us,’’ he said.In its deal to buy PetroKazakhstan, CNPC agreed to sell a third of the company back to the Kazakh government and form a 50-50 joint-venture to operate the Shymkent refinery.China and India have gone head-on in a number of big oil and gas asset sales in this year, with CNPC also taking a $1.4 billion Ecuador package but ONGC winning a $2 billion Nigerian oilfield selloff by little-known South Atlantic Petroleum.Despite the rivalry, the two are teaming up to bid for Petro-Canada’s $1 billion Syrian assets, although analysts have said the union was likely to be short-lived given their governments’ increasing anxiety over energy security as oil prices and national imports continue to rise.Credit Suisse First Boston is representing Nations Energy in the transaction, the sources said.An ONGC spokesman declined to comment. Spokespersons for CSFB and CNPC were not immediately available for comment. Nations Energy is owned by private Indonesian investors and run by company president Hashim Djojohadikusumo. It had an after-tax profit of $80.5 million on revenues of $277 million in the first nine months of 2004.The firm pumps more than 50,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil, most of that crude from the Karazhanbas field in Kazakhstan, which has proven reserves of more than 400 million barrels, the company said in 2004.That oil has an API density of 19 degrees, exceptionallyheavy, making it more difficult to refine into high-value fuels and lowering its value relative to Western oil benchmarks. —Reuters
