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BP mulls more ambitious asset sales target

BP has increased the amount it is looking to rake in from asset sales to $40bn, or £26bn, as rumours do the rounds it will offload its stake in the Prudhoe Bay field.

The company, which needs the cash to pay for the Gulf of Mexico oil slick, wants $20bn (£13bn) for its 26% interest in the lucrative Alaskan field, the largest in North America, according to reports.

It had originally flagged plans to raise $30bn (£20bn) and has already agreed to sell assets worth about £6.5bn.

Talks are also apparently taking place concerning the sale of overseas projects worth $5bn-10bn, including a number of North Sea oilfields, to its Russian joint venture TNK-BP.

The reports come as the US cost guard overseeing the clean-up operation says the broken well no longer presents a risk to the environment.

It "does not constitute a threat to the Gulf of Mexico," Admiral Thad Allen told reporters ahead of a key internal report on the disaster due within ten days.

BP yesterday recovered the blow-out preventer from the seabed as its investigation into the causes of the Macondo well catastrophe nears a conclusion.

The failure of the blow-out preventer led to the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that killed eleven people.

It has passed the blow-out preventer to the US Joint Federal Marine Board and other US agencies independently examining the causes of the spill.

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