BHP Billiton has received first-round bids for its US shale portfolio from oil majors including BP and Chevron, valuing the unit at $7-billion to $9-billion, people familiar with the matter said.
Royal Dutch Shell, partnering with private equity firm Blackstone Group, also submitted a bid for the entire unit late in May, said the people, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Chevron has teamed up with another private equity firm, while BP is pursuing them alone, the people said.
Multiple parties, including private equity firms such as Apollo Global Management as well as energy companies, have bid separately for individual packages of shale real estate being sold by the Melbourne, Australia-based commodities giant, the people said.
BHP expects to receive about $10-billion or more as bidding for the entire unit proceeds to a second round and as much as $13-billion if it sells the assets piecemeal, the people said. The company prefers to sell the unit to a single party and expects to invite second-round bids as early as July, the people said.
Representatives for BHP, BP, Chevron, Shell, Blackstone and Apollo declined to comment.
BHP advanced 1.8% by 12:52 p.m. in Sydney trading on Wednesday, outpacing a 0.3% gain for an index of Australia’s top 100 listed companies.
This development is an interesting one for the Project Logistics industry as capital projects are picking up rapidly.
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