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BP sells North Sea assets to Mitsui

by Paul Whitfield | Published June 26, 2012 at 8:51 AM

BP plc secured its second disposal of the week Tuesday, June 26, by offloading stakes in two North Sea gas and oil fields to Japan's Mitsui & Co Ltd. for $280 million.

The deal comes a day after BP sold Wyoming natural gas assets worth $1.025 billion to Houston's Linn Energy LLC. The deals are part of a $38 billion disposals program designed to refocus BP on assets with higher growth potential and raise cash for cleanup and compsenaton costs arising from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill following the fatal explosion at BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig in April 2010.

"The divestments are part of our strategy to develop a more focused business in the U.K. and Norway," BP North Sea's regional president Trevor Garlick said in a statement.

Mitsui will take control of BP's non-operating 13.3% stake in Alba, a ConocoPhillips-operated field that produces about 7,500 barrels per day, and an 8.97% stake in Britannia, which is operated by Chevron Corp. and produces about 25,000 barrels per day.

BP's share of production from the two fields was about 7,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, BP said.

BP has sold about $1.4 billion of North Sea assets in just over a year, including Tuesday's deal with Mitsui. In March this year and May last year it agreed two North Sea gas deals, worth a total $1.1 billion, with Perenco U.K. Ltd. BP has sold just over $24 billion of assets since the start of 2010, leaving the London-based energy producer about $14 billion short of its stated target of raising $38 billion from disposals by the end of 2013.

The sale to Mitsui is expected to close by the end of the third quarter.

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Tags: BP plc | energy | Japan's Mitsui & Co Ltd. | middle market

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BP sells North Sea assets to Mitsui

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