BP to sell US liquids-rich assets to Linn Energy for $1.03 billion

BP Plc yesterday agreed to sell some of its liquids-rich assets in the US to Linn Energy for $1.03 billion, as the British oil giant continues to hive off non-core assets in order to pay billions of dollars in damages due to 2011 massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

BP is selling to Houston-based Linn Energy its Jonah and Pinedale Field operations in Wyoming, which include working interests in 260 wells with a net production of 80 million cubic feet a day of natural gas equivalent.

The fields hold 73 per cent gas, 23 per cent natural gas liquids and 4 per cent oil.

This is the second assets Lynn Energy is buying from BP this year. In March, Linn acquired BP's oil and gas properties in the Hugoton Basin area of southwestern Kansas, for $1.2 billion.

Bob Dudley, who took over as BP chief executive after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, said proceeds from the sale would be spent on "higher growth opportunities in BP's North America gas business and elsewhere."

The sale of the fields in Wyoming brings the amount BP has raised since late 2010 to $24 billion, and plans to sell an additional $14 billion by the end of 2013.