BP launches $30bn sale of global assets
BP YESTERDAY kick-started its $30bn (£19bn) asset sale, with a number of potential buyers already lining up just one day after announcing the move.
It is understood that BP is already in talks with a number of buyers, including India’s Reliance Industries and Essar, to sell off $500m in African retail assets.
The group has already signed a deal with US rival Apache for $7bn in Canadian, American and Egyptian assets, with expectations that BP could also put its stake in Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay field and its stake in Pan American Energy up for sale.
Analysts criticised BP’s plans and said management should “start thinking radically to recover shareholder value”.
The spill, which is temporarily stopped, reached its 100th day yesterday, with hopes that a relief well will be drilled by early next week.
Criminal and civil investigations into the cause of the 20 April explosion are examining whether BP and companies involved in the Deepwater Horizon rig had misled or misinformed regulators and shareholders over the event.
“There will be a criminal inquiry as well as civil investigation and it involves more than simply BP,” said US Attorney general Eric Holder.
BP also faces a number of private lawsuits and claims for compensation from the spill that damaged fishing areas and tourist sites.