Argus reported that British Petroleum has agreed to sell the bulk of its Colombian assets to the country's state controlled oil company Ecopetrol and Canada's Talisman as part of its plan to divest up to USD 30 billion of assets over the next 18 months to meet liabilities related to the Macondo oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Ecopetrol and Talisman will pay BP an initial cash deposit of USD 1.25 billion for its Colombian exploration, production and transport business, with a further USD 650 million payable on completion of the sale. BP expects the deal to be completed by the end of this year, subject to regulatory approval.

Mr Tony Hayward outgoing CEO of BP said that the assets have contributed significantly to BP's global production over the years. But it now makes sense for the assets to go to owners more willing than BP to invest in their future development.

BP's Colombian operation has proved reserves of 60 million barrels of oil equivalent and production stands at around 25,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. It has interests in, and operates, the Tauramena (31%), Rio Chitamena (31%), Recetor (50%) and Piedemonte (50%) licenses, which are due to expire between 2016 and 2020. Producing fields on those licenses include the Cusiana, Recetor, Volcanera, Pauto and Florena fields. BP operated the Cupiagua and Cupiagua Sur fields until the end of June, when Ecopetrol took them over following the expiry of a 28 year old contract.

BP has a 40.56% interest in, and operates, two exploration blocks offshore Cartagena, as well as interests in four pipelines and the Cusiana gas processing facility, which processes 230 million cubic tonnes per day of gas from the nearby Cusiana field. BP's lubricants business and other downstream activities are not included in the sale.

Mr Javier Gutierrez CEO of Ecopetrol said that "This deal is extremely important for Ecopetrol as all of BP's operations are based in the Llanos foothills, which is one of the most prospective areas in Colombia."

This is the third major announcement about asset sales that BP has made since it revealed its plans in the wake of the Macondo disaster. The company said last month that it had agreed to sell USD 7 billion worth of assets in the US, Canada and Egypt to US independent Apache, and that it intends to sell all its upstream assets in Pakistan and a number of gas fields and associated infrastructure in Vietnam.

(Sourced from www.argusmedia.com)