BP (BP 0.98%) will sell its ownership in the Sean gas field, in the North Sea, the company said on Monday. BP is shedding many non-operated North Sea assets, and the 50% stake in the Sean field will be sold to U.K. energy company SSE plc for $288 million. SSE is a large electricity and gas provider that also has operations in Ireland.
BP's current production in the North Sea averages around 200,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day; BP was producing less than a tenth of that, around 18,000 barrels per day, from its Sean location.
The North Sea remains a major area of interest for BP, and the company plans to invest $10 billion throughout the next five years on operations in the region. Including its Sean divestment, BP has already sold more than $3 billion in assets in order to focus, in the words of the regional president of BP North Sea, "on high value assets with long term growth potential."
