Qatar Said to Leave Group Seeking Occidental Mideast Stake - Bloomberg

Qatar Said to Leave Group Seeking Occidental Mideast Stake - Bloomberg:



"Qatar’s national oil company has dropped out of a group of state-backed investors seeking to buy a stake in Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY)’s Middle East business amid a political dispute in the region, people with knowledge of the matter said.



Still interested in a joint-bid for the stake are Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Development Co. and Oman Oil, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is not public. Qatar Petroleum is weighing buying some or all of the stake on its own, and is seeking a financial adviser to help it do so, the people said.



Occidental is considering breaking up the assets and selling them to individual countries, Chief Executive Officer Stephen Chazen said last week. The split also creates the possibility of a contest for the 40 percent stake, which is expected to fetch as much as $8 billion, one of the people said. Shares of Occidental rose as much as one percent, and were up 0.7 percent at $95.58 as of 1 p.m. in New York today."



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