Oct 25th - Marubeni to acquire Gulf Of Mexico oil fields from BP For $650mn

BP PLC said Monday it will sell four producing deep-water oil and gas fields in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico to Marubeni Oil and Gas for $650 million.

BP, in a statement, said the asset disposal could be completed by early 2011. Marubeni Oil and Gas is a unit of Japan's Marubeni Corp.

The disposal is part of a wider program BP initiated to shore up its financial position to deal with the fallout of April's Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

BP acquired the interests in the fields--Magnolia, Merganser, Nansen and Zia--from Devon Energy earlier in 2010. BP's net production from these fields is about 15,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day. In its statement, BP said the four fields "did not fit well with the rest of our business in the region."

Marubeni said in a statement it expects to complete the purchases by early next year unless an existing partner of the four wells exercises its pre-emptive right. A Marubeni spokeswoman declined to give details on pre-emptive right situations.

After the acquisition, Marubeni's production interests will total about 50,000 barrels a day of crude oil equivalent, up from about 35,000 barrels a day currently, the spokeswoman said.

Marubeni doesn't plan on buying more BP production stakes for the time being, she said.

BP shares in London traded up three-and-a-half pence at 431.85 pence at 1000 GMT.