S.Korea's S-Oil halts talks to buy stake in Australia's United Petroleum

SEOUL, March 24 (Reuters) - S-Oil 010950.KS said on Monday it halted talks to acquire a stake in Australia's United Petroleum after failing to reach an agreement with the petrol and convenience store retailer.

The South Korean refiner, controlled by Saudi Aramco, said in a regulatory filing that it will continue to maintain its current partnership with United Petroleum based on their current oil product trades.

S-Oil said earlier this year it had been picked as preferred bidder to acquire the stake after the privately owned Australian company began exploring a potential sale or a joint venture of the business that has a value of about A$1 billion ($921 million) including debt, according to sources familiar with the matter last year.

(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Richard Pullin)

((jungyoon.lee@thomsonreuters.com)(+82 2 3704 5609)(Reuters Messaging: jungyoon.lee.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: UNITEDPETROLEUM SALE/S OIL