BP in Venezuelan asset sale talks with Russian JV
BP IS currently negotiating a deal that could see it sell off some of its Venezuelan assets to joint venture partner TNK-BP.
The Russian group, which is split between BP and a consortium of oligarchs known as AAR, is considering the South American purchase in a bid to pursue plans to expand internationally.
Analysts estimate the sale to be worth $850m and TNK-BP said that it was actively evaluating the opportunity to invest in the assets.
The sale is part of a plan by BP to dispose of up to $30bn in assets over the next 18 months as it attempts to offset some of the costs related to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, now as high as $32.2bn.
BP is also lining up a number of potential sales in Columbia, Vietnam and Pakistan to not only help pay for the disaster, but to also meet its intentions to become a smaller and leaner company.
It has already agreed a $7bn deal with US rival Apache and could sell off a further $500m in African retail assets. It is understood that India’s Reliance and the Essar Group are interested in making an offer.