More aggressive development; a focus on growing oil production
BP’s sale of its Alaska assets to Hilcorp Energy, rumored for weeks (and reported by us) was made official Tuesday, Aug. 26. The sale, for $5.6 billion, includes BP’s shares of the producing Prudhoe Bay oil field; Point Thomson gas and condensate field and ownership in the Trans Alaska Pipeline System. While the loss of a big legacy oil producer stings, there is an upside: Hilcorp is known as an aggressive developer of mature fields with a track record of making investments and growing production. The company almost doubled Cook Inlet oil production after it took over from Chevron in 2012, for example. The deal also includes BP’s interest in undeveloped oil and gas leases on private in holdings in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which is shared with Chevron Corp. That BP would eventually exit Alaska has been expected for years because the mature North Slope assets no longer fit the company’s portfolio. Big oil prospects, and projects, are what interests very large companies like BP these days. So, with the sale of its ANWR interests, what does this say about BP’s view of prospects there? More analysis of this in our next issue.