bp looking to sell North Sea assets, according to reports
bp recently held advanced talks to sell its UK North Sea assets to Ithaca Energy in a deal worth nearly £2 billion ($2.69 billion), according to Reuters and the Financial Times.
While the talks failed in recent weeks, bp is still exploring options and may pursue a deal with other competitors, the report said.
Ithaca Energy declined to comment, while bp did not immediately respond to Reuters’request for comment.
Bloomberg News reported last month that bp was weighing a sale of some or all of its UK North Sea operations.
bp operates five key production hubs in the North Sea region, including the Clair oilfield, the largest on the UK continental shelf.
Under new CEO Meg O'Neill, who took charge in April, bp is reorganizing into two main business units – upstream and downstream.
The company has cut billions of dollars from planned renewable energy projects, pledged to divest $20 billion of assets by 2027, and reduce debt and costs.
BP has had a long history in the UK North Sea – over 60 years – and has traditionally been one of its biggest operators. However, declining output and successive regimes that have been politically hostile to oil and gas have driven down the North Sea’s share of bp’s production to 120,000 b/d of its 2.3 million b/d.
A bp exit would be the departure of the last remaining supermajor in the North Sea, as Shell, Repsol and TotalEnergies have exited, restructuring their operations by spinning off assts into joint ventures.
Ithaca Energy has been active in the North Sea, including being partners in several new developments in the basin. This includes the Cambo field, the UK’s second-argest undeveloped oil and gas field; the Rosebank field, the largest undeveloped field; and Tornado, an undeveloped gas condensate field in the West of Shetland area (Faroe-Shetland Channel).
About the Author
Bruce Beaubouef
Managing Editor
Bruce Beaubouef is Managing Editor for Offshore magazine. In that capacity, he plans and oversees content for the magazine; writes features on technologies and trends for the magazine; writes news updates for the website; creates and moderates topical webinars; and creates videos that focus on offshore oil and gas and renewable energies. Beaubouef has been in the oil and gas trade media for 25 years, starting out as Editor of Hart’s Pipeline Digest in 1998. From there, he went on to serve as Associate Editor for Pipe Line and Gas Industry for Gulf Publishing for four years before rejoining Hart Publications as Editor of PipeLine and Gas Technology in 2003. He joined Offshore magazine as Managing Editor in 2010, at that time owned by PennWell Corp. Beaubouef earned his Ph.D. at the University of Houston in 1997, and his dissertation was published in book form by Texas A&M University Press in September 2007 as The Strategic Petroleum Reserve: U.S. Energy Security and Oil Politics, 1975-2005.