BP Shares Rise After Decision To Sell Fields

British Petroleum Plc shares rose in London trading after it agreed to sell oil and gas fields in the United States, Canada and Egypt to Apache Corporation for $7bn, raising cash to meet the costs of the Gulf of Mexico spill.

According to Bloomberg News, BP climbed by 3.2 per cent to close at 399.9 pence. The stock was down 39 per cent since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers and triggering the worst oil spill in US history.

Europe’s largest oil producer by volume said last month that it would sell $10bn of assets to raise cash for the $20bn fund demanded by President Barack Obama to compensate victims of the oil spill. BP said on Tuesday that it planned to sell assets in Pakistan and Vietnam, and the company was said to be in talks with Apache earlier this week about selling half its stake in Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay oil field.

“It’s a nice tidying up of the portfolio,” said an analyst at Brewin Dolphin Limited, Iain Armstrong, which oversees more than $31bn in London, including BP shares. “If they can get rid of Vietnam and Pakistan assets as well, even better.”

Apache would buy BP’s Permian Basin holdings in Texas and southeast New Mexico and gas properties in western Canada, London-based BP said on Tuesday after the close of trading. BP also agreed to sell exploration concessions in Egypt.