Rockhopper sees Malvinas oil stake sale in 3 months

Rockhopper Exploration expects to find a partner to invest in its politically sensitive oil discovery offshore the Malvinas Islands within three months and might sell a majority stake in the $2 billion project.

Rockhopper executives told a conference last week that seven or eight companies were interested in bidding, according to investment bank Morgan Stanley.

A research note from the bank, which hosted the conference, also said the UK-based company could give up its lead role in the Sea Lion field it believes could have 1.3 billion barrels of oil in place.

"Rockhopper would be willing to relinquish operatorship, if the farm-down interest was high enough," said the note.

The executives told the conference Rockhopper was giving would-be bidders access to its data because it needs money and expertise to fund the development in an area that is the subject of a territorial dispute between Britain and Argentina.

Mark Wilson, oil analyst at investment bank Macquarie, which also hosted an investor conference at which Rockhopper presented last week, said in a research note he expected the company to sell a 50 percent stake in its interests in return for the partner bearing all the cost of developing the project.

Analysts from Bank of America Merrill Lynch said Rockhopper was likely to see strong interest in the stake.

"The significant exploration upside potential that the acreage still offers could prove a strong 'pull factor' for bidders - particularly those with limited exploration newsflow," they said in a note on today.

Last year, Rockhopper unveiled plans for a $2 billion project to transform the remote Malvinas Islands into an oil production centre and the firm said in October it had been approached by industry partners looking to co-invest with it on the project.

It said it planned to open an online data room towards the end of 2011 to allow interested parties to prepare a bid.

Argentina claims the British-governed Malvinas, and fought a war against Britain for control of them in 1982. It and some other South American countries refuse to allow vessels working on or supplying Falklands oil projects to put into their ports.