Jul. 22 – India has expressed an interest in purchasing BP’s energy assets in Vietnam as the country looks to satiate its growing appetite for energy resources and the British energy giant seeks to liquidate investments as it deals with the oil spill crisis in the Gulf of Mexico.

It has been reported that BP is prepared to sell all of its assets in Vietnam and Pakistan, with the exception of its lubricants business, in an attempt to raise US$10 billion for cleanup costs and compensation claims in the Gulf region. According to UBS, BP’s Vietnam assets are valued at US$966 million and its Pakistan assets at US$690 million.

BP’s main asset in Vietnam is the Nam Con Son gas project in the South China Sea, which consists of two offshore gas fields, a power development and a pipeline. The company is looking to offload its 35 percent stake in the two gas fields, its 33 percent share in the Phu My power plant, and its minority share in the pipeline. The other two companies with shares in the gas fields are India’s state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC), with a 45 percent share, and Vietnam’s government-run PetroVietnam, with a 20 percent stake.

India’s Oil Minister Murli Deora and ONGC’s Chairman R.S. Sharma arrived in Vietnam on Wednesday to discuss the deal with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and the heads of PetroVietnam.

“This is a great opportunity for us,” said Deora. “The gas fields were originally allocated to us, but because of the foreign exchange crisis of the 1990s, we had to farm away some stake to BP. We will like to get that back.”

Deora also said that U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron would discuss the deal during his official state visit to New Delhi next week.

China is also always looking for new energy assets, and state-owned energy behemoths CNOOC and Sinopec are reportedly also interested in BP’s holdings, as is Thailand’s PTTEP.

“We would welcome interest from any parties and we’ll work towards a deal hopefully by the end of the year,” BP said.