BP, the British oil giant, has ended its Alaska presence with the complete sale of its assets in the region. The company announced it would end its ties with the region back in August, 2019, when announced the selling of its businesses to Hilcorp for a total amount of $5,6 billion.
Sale included company’s entire upstream and midstream assets in the state, including BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., and BP Pipelines (Alaska) and its interests at the Trans Alaska Pipeline Systems.
As the sale was supposed to happen at an escalated pace, the upstream assets where completely sold by June 30, to Hilcorp.
“I am proud of our employees and contractors who have done extraordinary work to make this a safe and seamless transition. Thank you. And to the State of Alaska, we deeply value our role in Alaska’s history, and thank the governor and his team for positioning Prudhoe Bay for many more years of competitive production,” said Janet Weiss, company’s regional president for Alaska, back then.
Now, the company has completed the selling of its midstream businesses to Harvest Alaska, including BP’s ownership in the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) and its operator Alyeska.
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6 decades relationship between Alaska and BP ends
This marks the ending of a 60-year relationship with the state; to what Dave Lawler, chairman of BP America, said: “bp deeply appreciates being a guest of Alaska and its native communities for over six decades; we thank the government of Alaska for its professionalism as we worked to finalize this sale. Bp is a better company because of our time in Alaska.”
“The construction and operation of TAPS shows how Alaska’s people, the state, federal government and industry can work together to bring energy to America,” he concluded.
Company’s exit of the state happens in a time in which Alaska is at the center of the industry’s discussion; as the Trump administration has opened leases for exploration and production in Alaska’s Arctic Wildlife National Refuge.
As we reported previously, the call for leases was open even before the calls for admissions period ended. This fast-track procedure is being criticized by environmental groups and opposers; as Trump would want to speed up the opening of the region to production, before Biden’s term begins.
Experts consider that this aggressive time frame would end up in court and leases will never come to fruition; however, the sale is due to happen next January 6, just weeks before Biden enters the oval office.
