Latest asset sale announced by oil giant
December 15, 2010 at 10:41 am
BP have announced that they have now sold 20 billion US dollars (the equivalent of £12.8 million) worth of assets to help their bid to pay for the devastating Gulf of Mexico oil disaster. The oil giant announced the figure after it agreed the sale of its majority stake in an Argentina-based company, with the deal due for completion early next year.
After previously selling interests in locations as diverse as Egypt and Vietnam, BP are now thought to have sold their 60% stake in Pan American Energy (PAE), with Bridas Corporation the recipients of this majority interest in the oil and gas firm.
Although the figure raised by the sale of this latest asset is significant and the 20 billion US dollar mark certainly a significant one, it still leaves BP some way off their intended target of 30 billion US dollars. It is thought that the oil giant will need to raise this figure by the end of next year in order to, in the words of BP group chief executive Bob Dudley, “meet … significant financial commitments” by paying the compensation bill for the oil spill that ended up being the largest offshore oil spill ever seen anywhere in the world.
The spill was triggered by a rig explosion back in April which killed 11 workers and allowed over 170 million gallons of oil to flood into the Gulf of Mexico. Although the well leaking the oil was finally sealed a few months ago, BP’s global reputation received a massive blow. The oil giant will surely be hopeful that by taking full financial responsibility for the incident, it will be taking one small step along the long road to recovery.
