LONDON -(Dow Jones)- Barclays Capital is backing a new oil and gas development company called Nio Petroleum in southeast Asia, the bank said Tuesday.
Barclays Capital, the investment banking division of Barclays Bank PLC (BCS), is partnering Nio's chief executive Richard Hall and chief operating officer Rory Edwards in a venture that will focus on undeveloped oil and gas discoveries, marginal fields and late-life assets in the region.
"Given our extensive expertise in oil and gas development, particularly in southeast Asia, we believe there is real upside we can add to both national and independent oil company partners in the region," Hall said.
Barclays' natural resources investment group said it aims to partner management teams in upstream oil and gas, mining and power, providing a line of equity to grow the businesses "without relying on financial leverage to create returns," the bank said in a joint press release with Nio.
"There are opportunities in the market that we have identified and are keen to exploit. The provision of capital to do so in this economic climate is rare indeed," Edwards said.
Hall and Edwards have 25 years' experience in national and independent oil and service companies.
Nio seeks to acquire undeveloped discoveries or mature, late-life assets "to add value through the innovative use of existing and new technologies and commercial know-how," according to the joint press release.
-By Lananh Nguyen, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20-7842-9479; lananh.nguyen@dowjones.com
(Florence Tan in Singapore contributed to this report.)