BP buys assets in Brazil for $7bn

BP, a specialist in deepwater development, will pay for the fields in cash
BP, the oil company, has acquired a string of assets in Brazil from Devon Energy, a US company, in a $7 billion (£4.2 billion) deal that has placed it at the centre of one of the most promising regions in the world for oil exploration.
The purchase, announced this morning, includes interests in eight fields in Brazil’s Campos and Camamu-Almada basins in water depths of up to 2,780 metres (9,120ft) as well as two onshore licenses in the Parnaíba basin.
It also includes further interests in Azerbaijan and the Gulf of Mexico, two oil provinces where BP is already a big player.
BP, a specialist in deepwater development, will pay for the fields in cash.
The company has been eager to find an entry to Brazil's emerging offshore oil industry.
Recent discoveries led by Petrobras, the state-controlled oil company, are thought to contain more than 80 billion barrels of oil.
As part of the deal, BP will also sell Devon a 50 per cent stake in its Kirby oil sands interests in Alberta, Canada, for $500 million.
The companies have agreed to form a 50-50 joint venture to develop the project in the Athabasca region of northern Canada.
“This strategic opportunity fits well with BP’s operating strengths and key interests around the world, offering us significant additional long-term growth potential with an emphasis on high-margin oil,” Tony Hayward, the BP chief executive, said.
“As well as giving us a broad portfolio of assets in the exciting Brazilian deepwater, it will strengthen our position in the Gulf of Mexico, enhance our interests in Azerbaijan and enable us to progress the development of our Caspian assets.”
The assets in the Gulf of Mexico that BP has acquired from Devon include interests in some 240 leases across the region.
They include four oilfields that are already in production — Zia, Magnolia, Merganser and Nansen — plus other exploration prospects.
Andy Inglis, BP’s head of exploration and production, said: “Through our entry into Brazil, BP will add a major position in another attractive deepwater basin.
"Together with the additional new access in the Gulf of Mexico, it further underlines our global position as a leading deepwater international oil company.”

TIMES ONLINE MARCH 10th

Back to main news page