Unnamed Saudi investors are looking to buy a stake worth 10 to 15% in embattled BP according to a Saudi newspaper report on Wednesday.
The unsourced report in Al-Eqtisadiyah, an Arabic language business daily in Saudi Arabia, said that a delegation of Saudi investors will be heading to London for direct talks with BP.
The newspaper did not reveal its sources or names of the investors, saying only some of the delegation members were from the energy industry.
The report came as BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward was to hold meetings with investors and UAE oil industry officials in Abu Dhabi.
On Tuesday, a senior source in the UAE told Reuters BP had approached sovereign wealth funds with a view to securing a strategic investor to fend off takeover bids while it deals with the US oil spill.
BP which is currently making what it hopes is its final effort to tightly cap the ruptured deep sea well bore and capture all the leaking oil, said it hopes to raise US$10 billion from asset sales this year as part of its plan to fund a $20 billion clean-up fund set up under pressure from US authorities.
