BP to sell assets to fund compensation payments for the oil spill

British oil tycoon (and current U.S. public enemy #1) BP may reach an agreement this week to sell assets including a part of its stake in Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay field to Apache Corp. for more than US$ 10 billion in an all-cash transaction, sources familiar to the deal told "Bloomberg". BP is hurrying to close the deal before July 27, when it reports second-quarter earnings, while Apache is trying to raise between US$ 6 billion and US$ 7 billion to finance the acquisition of the area, which has been a declining field.

Official data states that Prudhoe Bay’s output, once greater than 1.5 million barrels a day, averaged 234,772 barrels a day this month. Anyhow, the sale would accelerate BP’s plan to sell US$ 10 billion of assets over 12 months to fund compensation payments for damages related to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, caused by the explosion of its Macondo well in April.

U.S.-based Apache is well-known for its ability to “breathe life” into declining projects, such as its Forties field in the North Sea, whose output was doubled between 2003 and 2005 with improved drilling techniques and production efficiency.