OREANDA-NEWS. August 23, 2010. TNK-BP and Vietnam's state-owned oil and gas corporation PetroVietnam are in talks regarding an exploration and production JV in Russia, the Vietnamese company said on Thursday. TNK-BP stated that it will also study the options for buying a share in (and expanding) Vietnam's Dung Quat oil refinery. The Vietnamese government has already approved a plan to raise the refinery's annual crude oil capacity from 6.5MMT to 10MMT (or 200,800 bpd), reported the press-centre of OTKRITIE Financial Corporation.

View: We believe that this JV could have a marginally positive impact on TNK-BP shares as it will allow TNK-BP to expand into Asia region. As two companies will participate, the risks associated with new exploration projects could be reduced. We also assume that companies could take part in joint projects in the Yamal region. In addition, if TNK-BP buys a share in the Vietnamese refinery and a number of exploration and production assets, it could realize some synergies via its cooperation with Vietnam. BP is currently seeking buyers for some of its production assets in the region, and considers the TNK-BP as one of them. There is a risk for TNK-BP that BP will sell these assets at an inflated price.

Valuation and Action: TNK-BP trades on a 2010 EV/EBITDA of 3.3x which implies a 30% discount to Russian peers. We reiterate our BUY rating on TNK-BP Holding, with a target price of USD2.52/share.