BP still on the back foot over Deepwater Horizon
29 Nov 2012
London - Announcing its recent £4,5-billion settlement with US authorities, BP noted that companies convicted of criminal acts could be debarred from US government contracts, but added that it had not been advised that this would happen.
Unfortunately for the company, this has now come to pass, with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) slapping a temporary ban on new awards to BP - citing the energy giant’s “lack of business integrity”.
BP said it is now working with EPA to demonstrate “present responsibility” and have temporary suspension lifted. The EPA, it added, is preparing a draft agreement for deal that would resolve and lift the ban.
The EPA suspension does not affect any existing contracts the UK-based company has with the US government, including those in the Gulf of Mexico.
In the two and a half years since the Deepwater Horizon accident, the US government has granted BP more than 50 new leases in the Gulf of Mexico.
BP is also the largest investor and deepwater leaseholder in the Gulf of Mexico with more than 700 gross blocks and seven rigs currently conducting drilling operations.
Meanwhile, in a new move to help pay the massive fines and other costs relating to the Deepwater Horizon disaster, BP is selling its interests in a number of central North Sea oil and gas fields to TAQA (Abu Dhabi National Energy Co.) for around $1.3 billion.
The assets included in the sale are BP’s interests in the BP-operated Maclure, Harding and Devenick fields and non-operated interests in the Brae complex of fields and the Braemar field.
BP has now entered into agreements to sell assets with a value of around $37 billion since the beginning of 2010. The company said it expects to divest assets with a total value of $38 billion between 2010 and 2013.
The sales to TAQA is “in line with BP’s strategy to focus on a smaller number of higher-value assets with long-term growth potential and to continue the simplification of our portfolio,” said Bob Dudley, BP group chief executive.
BP emphasised that it is continuing to invest heavily in the UK and Norway, with planned capital spending of $10 billion over five years.
