BP Sell Stake in North Sea Oil Fields to TAQA for $1.1 Billion

[The Hulk]

As BP Plc continues to dispose of assets in the wake of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill Abu Dhabi National Energy Co. has bought stakes in North Sea fields for $1.1 billion.

Taqa, as the state-controlled power and oil company is known, will acquire interests in the Harding, Maclure and Devenick fields, BP said in a statement today. The deal also includes non-operated interests in the Brae and Braemar fields. The price doesn’t include future payments dependent on oil prices and production that BP expects to reach $250 million.

BP Chief Executive Officer Bob Dudley is shoring up the balance sheet of Europe’s second-biggest oil company as it faces a trial over civil fines in the U.S. next year. Today’s sale brings total disposals since 2010 to about $37 billion, close to the $38 billion target.

[Ed Mojica]

It has been estimated that BP will have to pay around $38 billion for its part in the Deepwater Horizon disaster, and it is trying to sell assets to cover this amount.

Does this mean that BP had no cash, or liquid capital to use?

What will be the future consequences of selling so many of its important oil and gas assets around the world?