Offshore Bahamas-focused explorer BPC is negotiating joint ventures with major oil companies.

Chairman Alan Burns, the veteran Aussie oilman who led BPC’s £3 million reverse takeover of bombed-out Falkland Gold and Minerals, says he hopes to be close to a farm-out deal with a large corporate partner by the New Year.

BPC has licences covering nearly 15,700 sq km (3.9 billion acres) around the Bahamas, which Burns says oil company Tenneco estimated in the1980s to have a potential 17 billion barrels of oil.

With a board including banker and Renewable Energy Holdings chief Michael Proffitt, BPC has already spent more than £5 million tracking down and re-interpreting old data on its licence area, a ‘treasure hunt’ search which Burns recalls took colleagues to a flooded shed in New Orleans and a rural outpost in Wales.

He says the AIM-quoted company still has £3.5 million cash and would hope to retain 25 to 40 per cent of its Bahamas prospects in any joint venture deal.

Burns has a good track record for opening up new oil areas, such as Uganda, and striking advantageous deals. These include last year’s £650 million sale of Hardman Resources to Tullow Oil.

BPC shares were once 24.5p, when it was Falkland Gold, but collapsed after it abandoned its mineral quest. They now trade at 4.5p, which could look cheap if Burns manages to clinch a good deal.

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BPC Limited (DI)	AIM	£19.74m	2.50p	0.00p
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BPC talks to oil majors			03/09/2008