Singapore's Temasek eyes upstream oil with new firm

SINGAPORE, April 22 (Reuters) - Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings has set up an oil exploration subsidiary to help diversify its financials-heavy portfolio, entering a sector crowded with national oil companies and majors.

The newly created Orchard Energy Pte Ltd will be involved in the "investment in energy exploration and development", according to filings with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) of Singapore. The company was incorporated in June as an indirect wholly owned unit of Temasek [TEM.UL].

A spokesman with Temasek, which manages a S$164 billion ($114.1 billion) global investment portfolio, including stakes in the world's two biggest offshore rig builders, said it "does not have any information to share at this point in time".

By taking a more hands-on approach in the energy sector, Orchard will be pitting itself against other state-linked firms such as Japan Petroleum Exploration Co (1662.T), Korea National Oil Corp, China National Offshore Oil Corp (0883.HK), India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC.BO), Malaysia's Petronas [PETR.UL] and Thailand's PTT Exploration and Production (PTTE.BK). ($1=1.354 Singapore Dollar) (Reporting by Luke Pachymuthu and Chua Baizhen; Editing by Ramthan Hussain and Jonathan Leff)