BP looking to sell Canadian assets
by The Canadian Press
BP PLC is planning to sell its Canadian midstream business in a transaction meant to help cover the clean-up costs from a massive oil spill earlier this year.
CALGARY—BP PLC is planning to sell its Canadian midstream business—one of several transactions meant to help the British energy giant cover the significant clean-up costs from a massive oil spill earlier this year.
“BP has decided to prepare its natural gas liquids business for a possible sale,” said BP Canada spokeswoman Melanie Ostopowich.
BP has committed to raise up to US$30 billion from asset sales to manage the costs associated with the Gulf of Mexico disaster, in which enormous amounts of crude gushed into the water for months.
“This sale is solely to respond to that commitment,” Ostopowich said.
Ostopowich declined to comment on the potential proceeds from the sale, but unidentified sources have told Bloomberg the pipeline and plant assets could fetch more than $2 billion.
The report cited Calgary-based Provident Energy Trust as a possible buyer.
“Provident would certainly look at assets like the BP midstream assets in Canada. We are intimately familiar with them due to our partnership with them in several of the facilities,” he said.
“As a matter of policy we can’t comment on any potential deals with BP or anyone else.”
In April, an explosion on a rig drilling a well for BP in the Gulf of Mexico set off the worst oil spill in U.S. history. It took months to finally seal off the ruptured well.
Over the summer, BP sold its Canadian natural gas assets to Apache Corp. for US$3.25-billion. The sale was part of a $7-billion package that also included assets in the US and Egypt.
Shortly after, Talisman Energy Inc. and its Colombian partner, Ecopetrol, said they would buy BP’s Colombian oil and gas exploration assets for US$1.9 billion.
