* Second-round bids due in mid-September
* Newfield is Malaysia's fourth-biggest oil producer
* All shortlisted parties on good terms with Petronas
* Newfield unloading older assets to invest closer to home
By Denny Thomas and Niluksi Koswanage
HONG KONG/KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Energy majorsExxon Mobil Corp and Royal Dutch Shell areamong the suitors advancing to the next round of bidding forNewfield Exploration Co's Malaysian and Chinese oil andgas fields valued at about $1.2 billion, people familiar withthe matter said.
Newfield and Hess Corp are among a number of U.S.energy companies unloading ageing and less productive oil andgas fields to invest in more strategic and profitable projects,particularly in and close to their home markets. The moves aredriven in part by activist shareholders.
Nearly a dozen suitors were attracted to Newfield's auctionthat kicked off about two months ago. Newfield's advisor,Goldman Sachs, has whittled down to the list to at leastfour, inviting Canada's Talisman Energy Inc and KUFPEC,a unit of Kuwait Petroleum Corp, to submit second-round bids inmid-September along with Exxon and Shell, the people added.
"The management is of one mind and that is to sell theassets and refocus on North America," one person familiar withthe matter told Reuters.
Newfield, the fourth-largest oil producer in Malaysia, hasan interest in about 3.3 million net acres offshore Malaysia andabout 290,000 net acres offshore China. The Malaysian fieldsaccounted for 39 percent of Newfield's revenues in 2012, whilethe Chinese fields accounted for 3.3 percent.
Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas), Malaysia'sstate oil firm, will be the key to the domestic sale, since itis the operator of some of the blocks in the Malay Basin inwhich Newfield holds an interest.
"Almost all the companies that got through for the Malaysianassets have a good working relationship with Petronas, whichawards the production-sharing contracts. So it would be an easyfit then," one person familiar with the process said.
Newfield, which has a market value of $3.2 billion, warnedof a 25-30 percent decline in its international production dueto natural declines in its Malaysian fields among other factors.
Woodlands, Texas-based Newfield, Exxon and Shell declined tocomment. Talisman did not reply to an email seeking comment,while KUFPEC could not be reached for comment. The sourcesdeclined to be identified as the sale process is confidential.
