By Tom Bergin
LONDON (Reuters) - Italian oil refiner Saras (SRS.MI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is considering a possible purchase of French refineries being offered for sale by oil majors Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the company's general manager said on Wednesday.
"There's been talk of possible sales by the majors in the south of France, and we're looking at it," Dario Scaffardi told the Reuters Energy Summit in London.
Shell said in January it was investigating a possible sale of its French refineries and industry sources said Exxon was also examining a sale of its French assets.
Scaffardi said Saras could look at purchasing the companies' whole portfolio of French refineries or just their Mediterranean refineries.
"We wouldn't be scared at looking at the whole thing or part of the thing."
Shell's Berre L'Etang refinery, which has a 126,000 barrel per day (bpd) capacity, and Exxon's 115,000 bpd Fos-sur-Mer refinery are located west of Marseille in southern France.
Saras is still among the shortlisted bidders in the sale of I.E.S., which owns a 57,000 bpd refinery in northern Italy and about 150 retail stations, Scaffardi said, adding the sellers would likely be heartened by the announcement on Wednesday of the sale of Italian refiner Tamoil at an enterprise value of 4 billion euros.
This was around twice the level Scaffardi said he had expected Libyan-controlled Tamoil to sell for.
Scaffardi added that Saras was unlikely to bid for assets in the Balkans where governments are selling stakes in state refiners and that lack of availability made Spanish acquisitions unlikely too.
© Thomson Reuters 2008. All rights reserved.
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