BP sells Alaskan fields and pipeline to Hilcorp for $5.6bn
BP sold all its assets in Alaska to Hilcorp for $5.6bn (£4.5bn) today as the oil giant looks to divest $10bn in assets and re-focus on its core business.
The deal includes all of BP’s upstream and midstream business in the US state, and its stake in a major pipeline, the company said.
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BP chief executive Bob Dudley said the state has been “instrumental” to BP’s growth for the past half century.
However, other opportunities in the US and around the world “are more closely aligned with our long-term strategy and more competitive for our investment,” he said.
The deal is part of a two-year programme to divest $10bn from BP’s books.
The plan will allow the oil giant to “pursue new advantaged opportunities for BP’s portfolio within our disciplined financial framework,” Dudley said.
Alaska-based Hilcorp will be able to optimise the value of the assets, which include BP’s stakes in the massive Prudhoe Bay field and the Trans Alaska Pipeline, BP said.
The companies said they will tell BP’s 1,600 Alaskan staff if they will keep their jobs “as soon as possible”.
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Founded in 2012, Hilcorp is the largest private oil and gas operator in Alaska. It produces more than 75,000 barrels of oil equivalent every day. It is the second deal between the two after Hilcorp in 2014 bought BP’s stakes in four fields.
Dudley added: “Our exit from Alaska does not in any way diminish BP’s commitment to America. We remain very bullish on the US energy sector. In just the last three years we have invested more than $20 billion in the US and we will continue to look at further investment opportunities here.”