BP boosted as closes in on key asset sale
BP’S shares soared yesterday on the back of news that the company was close to securing a number of deals to sell off some assets and that it will begin capturing three times more oil through a new containment cap.
BP shares closed up 9.5 per cent at 399.4p yesterday. That is more than 30 per cent higher than the low hit on 25 June, but 40 per cent off its pre-spill peak.
Shareholders were reacting to the news that the embattled oil giant could be close to securing a deal to sell a large part of its Prudhoe Bay field in Alaska to rival Apache.
A BP spokesperson declined to comment on the deal and said the group is looking at shedding $10bn (£6.6bn) worth of non-core assets as part of its fundraising to help pay for the spill.
“BP has to be careful with its asset sales. Although the Apache sale is fine, BP has to be careful about what kind of pricing they receive because it is a valuable part of the business,” said George Godber at Matterly.
Investors also reacted to the news that containment efforts were proceeding better than expected as BP prepared to lower a cap on the Macondo well last night that is capable of capturing up to 80,000 barrels of oil a day.
Meanwhile, a White House panel probing the oil spill started its investigation yesterday, with hopes that it could make recommendations in six months time on deepwater drilling.
The seven-member national commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon spill and offshore drilling will probe the 20 April explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig and subsequent oil spill.