BP Officially Puts Pakistan, Vietnam Assets Up For Sale

BP BP, Europe's largest oil company by production volume, has notified the the governments of Vietnam and Pakistan that it wants to sell its assets in those countries. Speculation had increased over the past week that BP would sell its stake in the Nam Con Son gas project in Vietnam to a consortium led by Oil & Natural Gas Corp., India's biggest oil company, and PetroVietnam. BP says its interest in that project is worth $1.3 billion. In Pakistan, BP plans to sell oil and gas production fields, including deep-water sites, the largest offshore acreage given to any single explorer in the country, according to Bloomberg News. Earlier this week, BP hired HSBC HBC to manage the sale of the Nam Con Son stake. BP is looking to sell $30 billion in assets over the next 18 months to raise cash for costs tied to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and to reduce debt.