BP has revived the sale of its fields in Alaska after failing to dispose of them to Apache of the US earlier this year. The UK oil group is hoping to sell part of its stake in Prudhoe Bay, the giant Alaskan field, according to banking sources.
BP had been in negotiations with Apache, a US independent oil and gas group, to sell it half of its 26 per cent stake in Prudhoe Bay as part of a package of assets. That deal, however, became too complex and Apache finally agreed to pay $7bn for onshore gas assets in the US, Canada and Egypt.
Apache is still seen as a buyer by industry bankers, who also cited Occidental, a US group, as another potential suitor. It is not known whether BP would be willing to sell the entire stake, which would include the operatorship of the field.
BP remains in talks with its Russian venture, TNK-BP, to sell its assets in Venezuela. TNK-BP is understood to be willing to look at other assets offered for sale by BP, including those in Vietnam.
The disposals are part of BP’s plan to raise up to $30bn from asset sales to help pay for the Gulf of Mexico spill. BP declined to comment on the details of its asset disposal programme.
The company will this week publish its internal report into the causes of the April 20 accident by Mark Bly, its group head of safety and operations. The report is the first of several into the spill.
BP said in July that it did not believe it was grossly negligent – a charge that would need to be proved if the company were to be fined the maximum of $21bn under the Clean Water Act in the US.
BP revealed on Friday that its bill for cleaning up after the spill had reached $8bn.
At the weekend the company recovered a vital piece of equipment from the seabed.
The blow-out preventer, the stack of valves designed to prevent oil and gas from escaping but which appeared to have failed, has been taken into custody by the US Department of Justice as evidence in its own investigation into the accident, BP said in a statement on Sunday.
Thad Allen, the US national incident commander, said on Saturday that the installation of a new blow-out preventer had “basically secured” the Macondo well.
“I am pleased to announce that this well does not constitute a threat to the Gulf of Mexico at this point,” the retired Coast Guard admiral said.
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