Sinopec seen in due diligence on Imperial

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's state-run energy giant, Sinopec Group, is in the process of conducting due diligence on Russia-focused oil producer Imperial Energy, but has not yet made an official offer, Chinese media reported on Tuesday.

London-listed Imperial Energy, already discussing a 1.3 billion pound takeover, said on Monday it was in talks with a second unnamed suitor, sending shares in the oil company up 8 percent.

British media said the latest approach came from Sinopec, pitching it against India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), which industry sources have said was the first suitor.

Sinopec officials were not available for comment.

"We are upbeat about the prospects of blocks owned by the company. But we have to do our due diligence to decide whether if it's worth that much money," semi-official 21st Century Business Herald newspaper quoted an unnamed Sinopec official as saying.

"It's just an ordinary transaction. We have lots of targets for acquisition in recent years. The aim is to boost our upstream business for long-term growth," the official was quoted as saying, adding there were lots of uncertainties before the deal was finalised.

On Monday, an Imperial Energy spokesman in London declined to identify either possible bidder.

A deal with Sinopec Group, parent of top Asian refiner, would mark the Chinese firm's third major investment in resource-rich Russia.

In 2006, Sinopec bought Udmurtneft, a 120,000 barrels per day crude production unit from BP's Russian unit TNK-BP for about $3.5 billion (1.79 billion pounds).