UPDATE: Venezuela's PdVSA Wants Anadarko Unit At Lower Price

Venezuela's state oil firm said it is still planning to buy Anadarko Venezuela from Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC), but first wants the price lowered.

"We're interested in buying it. We're evaluating it," Eulogio Del Pino, a director at Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PdVSA, told reporters Tuesday.

Anadarko announced plans in early 2008 to sell its indirect 18% stake in Petroritupano, a joint venture with PdVSA and Brazil's Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PBR), or Petrobras.

Anadarko even lined up a buyer, PetroFalcon, which offered to pay $200 million.

But PdVSA rejected the deal, saying it has first dibs on buying Anadarko's stake, by law. Del Pino reiterated that point Tuesday.

"We hold the right to first refusal," he said.

Anadarko still wants to sell its stake, Del Pino said. But he added that PdVSA wants the price lowered because "oil prices have fallen tremendously."

He said Anadarko has "no problem" with the fact that no deal has been struck because, he said, the company has redirected its investments toward natural gas development projects in the U.S. Rocky Mountains.

An official at Texas-based Anadarko said the company had no comment. Petrobras also declined comment.

Petroritupano has the right to explore, develop and produce hydrocarbons through 2025 in the Oritupano-Leona block, which includes more than 340,000 acres in eastern Venezuela.

Petroritupano last year was reporting production of 38,000 barrels a day of oil and 20 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. Reports say it produces crude with an average 16-degree API.

-By Dan Molinski, Dow Jones Newswires; 58-414-120-5738; [e-mail]