Italian Firm Eni SpA Reportedly Close to Buying Unocal Corp.

0

Eni SpA may be close to winning a $17 billion bidding contest for El Segundo-based oil company Unocal Corp., Italian newspaper Finanza & Mercati reported.


Rome-based Eni has “arrived at the take it or leave it stage” and will decide within the next 15 days if it goes ahead with deal, the newspaper reported. No further details were given.


Goldman Sachs valued the transaction at about $17 billion in a report that said Eni was the best-placed company to take over Unocal, the newspaper said.


Eni SpA declined to comment on the report, financial news agency AFX News reported.


In a few short months, Unocal Corp. has become one of the most sought-after properties in the oil industry, if rumors floated by “sources close to” various oil companies can be believed.


ChevronTexaco Corp. and Chinese National Offshore Oil Co have also reportedly expressed interest in Unocal.


Most of the discussion around Unocal’s attractiveness has focused on its natural gas and oil reserves off the coasts of Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar and Bangladesh.


“Unocal has more natural gas in Asia than any company of its size,” said Fadel Gheit, oil analyst with Oppenheimer & Co. But there is some debate over just how valuable those assets are.”

No posts to display