BHP PLC (LSE:BP) is on the verge of concluding a deal for the sale of its offshore oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico for $7 billion to Houston-based Plains Exploration & Production (NYSE:PXP).
The Wall Street Journal cites inside sources as saying that negotiations are approaching completion with the announcement of a deal possible as soon as this week.
BP has offloaded a bevy of assets over the past two years to pay for the massive oil spill caused in April 2011 by the fatal Deepwater Horizon drilling-rig explosion.
BP has thus far agreed to sell around $26.5 billion assets out of $38 billion earmarked for sale.
Last month BP concluded a deal to sell a refinery in southern California along with related properties to Tesoro Corp. (NYSE:TSO) for a consideration of $2.5 billion.
Plains is a Houston-based oil explorer and producer founded in 2002 with oil and gas projects in California, Texas, Louisiana, the Rocky Mountains and the Gulf of Mexico. Its market capitalization is around $5.2 billion, and the company is expected to go into debt to pay for the deal.
