BP sells M'sian assets to Petronas

BRITISH oil giant BP has agreed to sell some of its Malaysian assets to local state energy firm Petronas for US$363 million (€285 million), the group announced yesterday.

"BP today announced that it has agreed to sell its interests in ethylene and polyethylene production in Malaysia to Petronas," the London-listed company said in a statement.

"The agreement concerns BP's 15 per cent interest in Ethylene Malaysia and 60 per cent interest in Polyethylene Malaysia."

Both production facilities are operated by Petronas, and are located at Kertih on the eastern coast of Malaysia. The deal is expected to be completed by the end of the year, subject to certain conditions, and does not affect BP's other businesses in the Asian nation.

BP is seeking to sell off up to US$30 billion of assets over the next 18 months as it faces spiralling costs from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster.

At the start of August, the group agreed to offload its Colombian business for US$1.9 billion (€1.4 billion) to national oil company Ecopetrol and Talisman of Canada.

Petronas, Malaysia's biggest company in terms of profit, assets and revenue, saw its net profit plunge 23.2 per cent due to weak demand and low oil and gas prices in the group's last fiscal year that ended on March 31. AFP