BP selling some Gulf oil properties to Houston firm run by LSU grad

Published Sep 10, 2012 at 10:00 am (Updated Sep 10, 2012)

BP announced this morning that it's selling some deepwater Gulf of Mexico oil and gas properties to Houston-based Plains Exploration & Production Co. for approximately $5.55 billion. For BP, which announced in May it was looking to shed some "non-strategic" assets in the Gulf, the deal is a big step toward recovering the cost of its oil well blowout in the Gulf two years ago and concentrating on investments elsewhere. The companies report the properties sold were producing the net equivalent of an estimated 59,500 barrels of oil per day as of July's end. Plains also announced this morning that it's buying a 50% working interest in the Holstein Field from Shell Offshore Inc. for $560 million. Those properties were producing about 7,400 barrels of oil equivalent net per day at July's end. Both deals are expected to close by the end of the year. The chairman, president and CEO of Plains, James C. Flores, is a Lafayette native and LSU graduate—and Business Report's 1996 Young Businessperson of the Year. BP says it plans to sell $38 billion of assets by the end of next year. "While these assets no longer fit our business strategy, the Gulf of Mexico remains a key part of BP's global exploration and production portfolio, and we intend to continue investing at least $4 billion there annually over the next decade," BP CEO Bob Dudley says.