WASHINGTON, Aug 28, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – British oil giant BP said Tuesday it
will sell all of its Alaska operations for $5.6 billion, exiting the state
after 60 years to help meet divestment goals.
The local firm Hilcorp Alaska will acquire the BP assets, including
operations in the mammoth Prudhoe Bay oilfield, BP said in a statement.
The sale, which is due to be completed next year, is part of BP’s $10
billion divestment program to help the company shore up its balance sheet.
In June, the company said it would sell assets in Egypt’s Gulf of Suez to
a Dubai firm for an undisclosed sum.
Projects elsewhere in the world are now better suited to BP’s long-term
strategy and were thus “more competitive for our investment,” BP chief Bob
Dudley said in the statement.
“Our exit from Alaska does not in any way diminish BP’s commitment to
America.”
The sale to Hilcorp involves a $4 billion payment up front, with the
remainder coming in earnout payments over time.
BP’s Alaska production is expected to average 74,000 barrels per day in
2019, according to the company.
The British oil major first entered oil-rich Alaska in 1959 — the same
year it officially became a US state — and helped construct the 800-mile
(1,300-kilometer) Trans-Alaska Pipeline.
The company last month posted a 35 percent drop in quarterly profits due
to falling oil prices.