Oct. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Nexen Inc., which operates in Alberta’s oil sands, the North Sea and Nigeria, said it will be selective in its hunt for acquisitions because it sees many of them as uneconomical and poor fits.

“We’re looking in every place that we operate,” Chief Executive Officer Marvin Romanow, 54, said in an interview in his Calgary office. “We believe there will be good things for us to look at going forward, but the timing of those is really challenging to predict.”

Nexen would prefer assets that will complement its existing holdings, Romanow said.

“One of the things when you look for new opportunities to bring in to the companies is they have to compare with what you have, because that competes for capital,” he said. When you look at assets Nexen holds, “we have a lot to do internally.”

Nexen has been “through all of the data rooms” on packages in the North Sea because it wants to add fields with a long life in that area.

The company’s biggest acquisition was the $2.1 billion purchase of North Sea fields from EnCana Corp. in 2004, according to Bloomberg data. The takeover included Buzzard, the U.K.’s biggest oil field, which can pump about 200,000 barrels a day. In January of this year, Nexen paid $735 million ($701 million) for a 15 percent stake in the Long Lake oil-sands project in northern Alberta from its partner Opti Canada Inc.

Long Lake is expected to reach capacity of 72,000 barrels of bitumen production and 60,000 barrels a day of upgraded crude in 2010. A second phase of the development likely won’t be sanctioned until at least the middle of that year, Nexen has said.

Partners

Romanow didn’t rule out working with other partners or doing expansions of Long Lake alone should Opti plan to sell its remaining 35 percent stake or get bought by another company.

“We are working with a large variety of partners” around the world, Romanow said. “The joint-venture agreement between us and Opti always contemplated if one party is unwilling or unable to proceed, there are always mechanisms in place where people who want to move forward on good-return projects are allowed to do that.”

Opti strengthened its financial position by selling 15 percent of Long Lake to Nexen, the company said in a statement when announcing the closing of the transaction on Jan. 27. Opti shares have previously jumped on speculation it may be bought by a major oil company such as Total SA of France. Companies such as Korea National Oil Corp. have also expressed interest in Canadian energy assets.

Nexen produced the equivalent of about 240,000 barrels of oil a day in the second quarter from such reservoirs as Long Lake, Buzzard and wells in Yemen and the Gulf of Mexico.

Share Prices

Nexen fell 27 cents to C$25.49 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The shares have gained 19 percent this year, after a 33 percent plunge in 2008. This year’s rebound is less than the 77 percent gain in crude oil in that period. About 85 percent of Nexen’s production is oil, the rest is gas.

Opti rose 5 cents, or 2 percent, to C$2.57 in Toronto.

Nexen was the Canadian unit of Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum Corp., the fourth-largest U.S. oil producer by market value, before it was spun off in 2000.

Romanow, a trained engineer from the western Canadian province of Saskatchewan, succeeded Charlie Fischer as Nexen’s CEO in January after 10 years as chief financial officer.

Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips are the biggest U.S. oil companies.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sonja Franklin in Calgary at sfranklin6@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 21, 2009 16:48 EDT