Indonesia’s national oil company has run into problems over a possible joint bid for ExxonMobil’s $3.5bn stake in an Angolan oil project after a dispute with Cnooc, the Chinese state-run oil company.
The Indonesian and Chinese companies terminated their plans following a dispute over the terms of the renewal of separate oil concessions at West Madura in Indonesia, said people familiar with the matter.
Indonesia’s Pertamina originally approached Cnooc to team up to acquire the Exxon stake, either to make a joint bid or to agree that whoever won would bring in the other. “The two matters are ... interlinked,” said one regulator familiar with the matter.