Beach Energy is working on a tilt for individual upstream oil and gas assets that are part of a spin-off being pursued by rival Origin Energy, sources told Street Talk.
This column understands Beach is actively re-cutting the numbers and has a team working on the project. It is unclear if an offer will be tabled with Origin or if an investment bank has been mandated to advise Beach.
The company has been close to JPMorgan bankers and Macquarie Capital in the past.
Macquarie, however, alongside UBS is in the Origin camp and is said to have a firm view on the reserve price for the conventional oil and gas assets.
Origin in December outlined a bold plan for a $1.8 billion-plus float of the oil and gas business. It has spurred some industry players into action in running a ruler over the businesses.
The spin-off does not require Origin shareholder approval. The listed business will include Origin's gas projects in several basins around Australia, including ventures in the Perth Basin that Origin had been seeking to sell, as well as in New Zealand.
In recent but broad comments to The Australian Financial Review, Beach chief Matthew Kay said: "We're still active in a number of discussions and looking at a number of opportunities. We are comfortable with the progress we are making there.
"We don't have any time clock running generally on ourselves in terms of when they will or won't happen. It's all about being disciplined."
A Beach spokesperson declined to comment on a potential offer for the Origin assets.
Elsewhere in the sector, the ExxonMobil and BHP Billiton sale process for their respective stakes in the Bass Strait oil fields is dragging on.
This column understands international producer Vermilion Energy is in the mix for several assets but the process is being hindered by issues around so-called abandonment liability, due to the assets being very mature.
Some are of the view that the abandonment liabilities would be too large and the vendors would have to do a deal with government to provide certainty to a potential buyer.
Sources estimate the assets may fetch several hundred million dollars, although the fields are in decline.
The fields on the block include Kingfish, the country's first offshore oil field.
