National oil firm Petronas said today it was interested in acquiring British Petroleum's stake in Singapore Refining Company (SRC).

Petronas president and chief executive Mohamad Hassan Marican said it was known that BP planned to divest its downstream assets in the region, including its one-third stake in Singapore's smallest refinery SRC.

"If the opportunity exists, we as a major downstream player in Malaysia and in the region would be interested to consider it," he told reporters on the sidelines of a two-day Asia oil and gas conference in Kuala Lumpur.

He dismissed reports that BP had offered its SRC stake and its 316 petrol stations in Malaysia and Singapore for sale as a package to Petronas.

"No, we did not receive any offer," he added.

The Business Times last week quoted market sources as saying BP had offered to sell its retail stations and fuel terminals in the region as it wanted to focus on oil and gas production.

Petronas, Indonesia's Pertamina and the Omani government were named as among potential buyers of BP's stake in SRC but they were reportedly put off by BP's RM760 million (US$200 million) asking price.