Blueprint
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
Form 6-K
Report of Foreign Issuer
Pursuant to Rule 13a-16 or 15d-16 of
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
for the
period ended 27
August, 2019
BP p.l.c.
(Translation
of registrant's name into English)
1 ST JAMES'S SQUARE, LONDON, SW1Y 4PD, ENGLAND
(Address
of principal executive offices)
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant files or will file
annual
reports
under cover Form 20-F or Form 40-F.
Form
20-F |X| Form 40-F
---------------
----------------
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant by furnishing the
information
contained
in this Form is also thereby furnishing the information to
the
Commission
pursuant to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities Exchange Act
of
1934.
Yes No
|X|
---------------
--------------
press
release
BP TO SELL ALASKA BUSINESS TO HILCORP
●
BP agrees to sell all Alaska operations and interests to Hilcorp
for $5.6 billion
●
Transaction includes interests in giant Prudhoe Bay field and Trans
Alaska Pipeline
●
Hilcorp is largest private operator in Alaska, specializing in
managing and optimizing mature oil and gas assets
●
Provides significant progress towards $10 billion divestment
programme and advances BP’s strategic agenda
BP
today announced that it has agreed to sell its entire business in
Alaska to Hilcorp Alaska, based in Anchorage, Alaska. Under the
terms of the agreement, Hilcorp will purchase all of BP’s
interests in the state for a total consideration of $5.6
billion.
The
sale will include BP’s entire upstream and midstream business
in the state, including BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., that
owns all of BP’s upstream oil and gas interests in
Alaska, and BP Pipelines (Alaska) Inc.’s interest in the
Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS).
Bob
Dudley, BP group chief executive, said: “Alaska has been
instrumental in BP’s growth and success for well over half a
century and our work there has helped shape the careers of many
throughout the company. We are extraordinarily proud of the
world-class business we have built, working alongside our partners
and the State of Alaska, and the significant contributions it has
made to Alaska’s economy and America’s energy
security.
“However, we
are steadily reshaping BP and today we have other opportunities,
both in the US and around the world, that are more closely aligned
with our long-term strategy and more competitive for our
investment. This transaction also underpins our two-year $10
billion divestment programme, further strengthening our balance
sheet and enabling us to pursue new advantaged opportunities for
BP’s portfolio within our disciplined financial
framework.
“As a
highly-capable operator with extensive Alaskan experience, Hilcorp
is ideally-placed to take this important business on into the
future, continuing to optimize its performance and maximize its
value for the State of Alaska. We are committed to a safe and
smooth transition of operations so that our employees, partners and
local, state and federal government officials all feel that we have
handed over these important assets in the right
way.”
Under
the terms of the agreement, Hilcorp will pay BP a total
consideration of $5.6 billion, comprising $4.0 billion payable
near-term and $1.6 billion through an earnout thereafter. Subject
to state and federal regulatory approval, the transaction is
expected to be completed in 2020. The deal forms a significant part
of BP’s plan to divest $10 billion of assets over 2019 and
2020.
Janet
Weiss, regional president, BP Alaska, added: “Today’s
announcement marks the start of an exciting new chapter for Prudhoe Bay. Alaska
has been a core part of BP for 60 years and saying goodbye will not
be easy. Our people have achieved incredible success over the
decades developing and maintaining these hugely important assets,
but we are confident this sale is in BP’s and the
state’s best interests and the business will be best
positioned for the future with Hilcorp. We will do all we can to
ensure they are able to quickly build on the strong foundation that
we and others have built here.”
BP
began working in Alaska in 1959, drilling the confirmation well for
the Prudhoe Bay oilfield in 1968 and in the mid-1970s helped build
the 800-mile Trans Alaska Pipeline. BP began producing oil from
Prudhoe Bay in 1977. The giant oilfield – the most prolific
in US history – has to date produced over 13 billion barrels
of oil and is estimated to have the potential to produce more than
one billion further barrels.
BP’s net oil
production from Alaska in 2019 is expected to average almost 74,000
barrels a day. BP operates Prudhoe Bay, with a working interest of
26%, and holds non-operating interests in the producing Milne Point
and Point Thomson fields. It also holds non-operating interests in
the Liberty project and exploration lease interests in the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). In addition to shares in TAPS and
its operator the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, BP is divesting
its midstream interests in the Milne Point Pipeline and the Point
Thomson Pipeline.
Approximately 1,600 employees are currently associated with
BP’s Alaska business and BP is committed to providing clarity
about their future as soon as possible as part of the transition
process with Hilcorp.
Hilcorp
has been operating in Alaska since 2012 and is today the largest
private oil and gas operator in the state, currently operating more
than 75,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day (boe/d) gross
production. In 2014 Hilcorp purchased interests from BP in four
operated Alaska North Slope oilfields.
BP
continues to develop its business in the US, where between 2005 and
2018 it invested over $115 billion, more than any other energy
investor. In the second quarter of 2019, BP’s net oil and gas
production from the US averaged over 921,000 boe/d, from major
interests in Alaska, onshore Lower 48 and deepwater Gulf of
Mexico.
In late
2018, BP acquired a portfolio of high-quality onshore US oil and
gas interests from BHP for $10.5 billion, adding 190,000 boe/d net
production. BP also continues to develop its business in the
deepwater Gulf of Mexico, bringing on a series of new projects on
its major producing assets. The new $9 billion Argos platform on
the Mad Dog field is expected on stream in 2021.
Bob Dudley added: “Our
exit from Alaska does not in any way diminish BP’s commitment
to America. We remain very bullish on the US energy sector. In just
the last three years we have invested more than $20 billion in the
US and we will continue to look at further investment opportunities
here.”
Notes to editors:
Interests
included in the transaction:
●
Upstream oil and
gas interests:
-
Prudhoe Bay, 26%
(operator BP);
-
Milne Point, 50%
(operator Hilcorp);
-
Point Thomson, 32%
(operator ExxonMobil).
-
Liberty project,
50% (operator Hilcorp);
-
Non-operating
interests in exploration leases in ANWR.
●
Midstream pipeline
interests:
-
Trans Alaska
Pipeline System, 49%;
-
Alyeska Pipeline
Service Company, 49%;
-
Point Thomson
Export Pipeline, 32%;
-
Milne Point
Pipeline, 50%.
-
Prince William
Sound Oil Spill Response Corporation, 25%
BP
in Alaska:
●
BP is the operator
and 26% owner in the Prudhoe Bay oilfield.
●
Prudhoe Bay is
located on the coast of the
Arctic Ocean in northern Alaska, 650 miles north of
Anchorage. It is the third largest oilfield in North America by
proved reserves.
●
To date, Prudhoe
Bay has produced more than 13 billion barrels of oil, far exceeding
initial projections of 9.6 billion barrels. In 2018, Prudhoe Bay
produced about 270,000 barrels of oil a day, accounting for more
than half of the State of Alaska’s total oil
production.
●
In 2014, BP
divested its interests in the Endicott and North Star fields and
half its interests in the Milne Point and Liberty fields to
Hilcorp.
●
In 2018, BP sold
its interest in the Kuparuk field to ConocoPhillips.
●
BP Alaska currently
employs some 1,600 staff, supports around 8,000 jobs in Alaska and
in 2018 spent $700 million with 280 Alaska vendors.
●
In 2018, BP donated
more than $4 million to education and community organizations
across Alaska.
BP
in the US:
●
BP is a global
producer of oil and gas with operations in nearly 80 countries. BP
has a larger economic footprint in the US than in any other nation,
investing more than $115 billion since 2005.
●
BP employs about
14,000 people across the US and supports more than 125,000
additional jobs through all its business activities.
●
In the US, in
addition to Alaska BP has oil and gas producing interests in the
deepwater Gulf of Mexico, and onshore in the Lower 48. It operates
three refineries, two petrochemical manufacturing sites and has
over 7,000 fuel retail sites. BP also has a wind power business in
the US, operating 10 sites in seven states.
●
For more
information on BP in America,
visit www.bp.com/us.
Hilcorp Alaska:
●
Hilcorp Alaska, an
affiliate Hilcorp Energy Company, is a privately held oil and
natural gas exploration and production company. Headquartered in
Anchorage, Hilcorp Alaska employs more than 500 full-time employees
throughout the state. Hilcorp Energy Company is headquartered in
Houston, Texas, and has more than 2,300 full-time employees.
Hilcorp continues to grow by actively acquiring and developing
conventional assets while expanding its footprint into a number of
new resource plays.
●
Harvest Alaska, an
affiliate of Harvest Midstream Company, is a privately held
midstream services provider based in Anchorage, Alaska. Harvest
Alaska currently operates pipeline systems in Alaska’s Cook
Inlet and on the North Slope. Harvest Midstream operates crude oil
and natural gas gathering, storage, transportation, treatment and
terminalling assets across the Lower 48 and Alaska. To learn more
visit www.harvestmidstream.com .
Further enquiries:
BP
Press Office, US: +1 281 366 4463, uspress@bp.com
BP
Press Office, London: +44 (0)20 7496 4076, bppress@bp.com
Cautionary statement:
In
order to utilize the 'safe harbor' provisions of the United States
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the 'PSLRA'), BP
is providing the following cautionary statement. This press release
contains certain forward-looking statements – that is,
statements related to future, not past events and circumstances
– which may relate to one or more of the financial
conditions, results of operations and businesses of BP and certain
of the plans and objectives of BP with respect to these items.
These statements are generally, but not always, identified by the
use of words such as 'will', 'expects', 'is expected to', 'aims',
'should', 'may', 'objective', 'is likely to', 'intends',
'believes', 'anticipates', 'plans', 'we see' or similar
expressions. Actual results may differ from those expressed in such
statements, depending on a variety of factors including the risk
factors set forth in our most recent Annual Report and Form 20-F
under "Risk factors" and in any of our more recent public
reports.
This
document contains references to non-proved resources and production
outlooks based on non-proved resources that the SEC's rules
prohibit us from including in our filings with the SEC. U.S.
investors are urged to consider closely the disclosures in our Form
20-F, SEC File No. 1-06262.
Our
most recent Annual Report and Form 20-F and other period filings
are available on our website at www.bp.com, or
can be obtained from the SEC by calling 1-800-SEC-0330 or on its
website at www.sec.gov.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant
to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the
registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf
by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
|
BP
p.l.c.
|
|
(Registrant)
|
|
|
Dated: 27
August 2019
|
|
|
/s/ B.
MATHEWS
|
|
------------------------
|
|
B.
MATHEWS
|
|
Company
Secretary
|