Germany's second biggest utility, RWE AG is struggling to find potential buyers for Dea Oil. This was according to three people who were knowledgeable about the matter.

After the announced proposal, only Wintershall BASF SE's energy unit has expressed interest in buying Dea. This was according to said sources who wished not to be named because discussions were not public.

According to same sources, RWE may have to accept a lower price than the US$6.6 million it has initially sought after.  Spokesperson for REW Annett Urbaczka refused to comment regarding said report.

Failure to sell Dea would represent a new blow to RWE's reduction of assets. The company was forced to put a scrap sale of Egyptian gas fields last year. After prices fell short in March, a target of EUR7 billion was abandoned by year end.

This year, a 17% decreased was observed in RWE shares in Frankfurt. This was the third worst performance in the DAX index of Germany's benchmark.