China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) hasn't started formal talks with Repsol YPF SA on acquiring a stake in the Spanish company's Argentine unit, Bloomberg reported yesterday, citing a company official.

CNPC is not at that stage yet, Wang Dongjin, vice-president of CNPC told reporters at a conference in Beijing yesterday, Bloomberg reported.

Repsol, Spain's largest oil company, is maintaining a plan to cut exposure to Argentina and its "preferred" means to do that is through a public offering of a stake in its YPF unit, spokesman Kristian Rix said in a telephone interview this month.