{"id":720616,"date":"2026-07-31T09:05:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T09:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/720616\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T09:05:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T09:05:13","slug":"bp-puts-north-sea-oil-and-gas-business-up-for-sale-bp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/720616\/","title":{"rendered":"BP puts North Sea oil and gas business up for sale | BP"},"content":{"rendered":"

BP has put its North Sea oil and gas business up for sale as it looks to end six decades of production from the region.<\/p>\n

The firm announced on Friday morning that it had launched a formal process to market its North Sea business for a potential sale. The move comes as BP\u2019s new chief executive, Meg O\u2019Neill, tries to simplify the company and cut its debt levels.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill said in a statement: \u201cThe North Sea remains integral to the UK\u2019s energy system. However, as we focus our portfolio and direct capital to our highest-value opportunities, we believe our North Sea business will be better positioned as part of another company.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the UK would \u201ccontinue to play an important role\u201d in BP\u2019s future. \u201cWe\u2019re proud of the jobs we create, the contribution we make to the UK economy, and the work we do to keep energy flowing every day,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

BP\u2019s involvement in the North Sea dates back to 1964, when it was granted its first UK North Sea licence. The company discovered the West Sole gasfield in the winter of 1965, followed by its largest discovery in the area, the giant Forties field, in 1970.<\/p>\n

The sale announcement comes a day after Andy Burnham said he would take a \u201cpragmatic\u201d approach<\/a> to oil and gas drilling in the North Sea, saying the government could not ignore the potential energy resources it held.<\/p>\n

Chris Beauchamp, the chief market analyst at the investing and trading platform IG, said BP\u2019s North Sea sale was \u201ca watershed moment\u201d. \u201cIt says a lot when BP isn\u2019t prepared to stick around to see if the new government can re-energise the UK\u2019s energy policy,\u201d he said. \u201cClearly BP thinks it will take too long at a time when the need to exploit new energy fields is pressing, and waiting around for Whitehall to move is not a prudent use of resources.\u201d<\/p>\n

The energy secretary, Miatta Fahnbulleh, said she was in close contact with BP over its plans.<\/p>\n

skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter | Every weekday<\/p>\n

Sign up to Business Today<\/p>\n

Get set for the working day \u2013 we’ll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cThe North Sea is a vital national asset and we will take a pragmatic approach, recognising that oil and gas will be part of our energy mix for years to come,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m in close contact with BP and have made clear that my priority is ensuring that the workers and local community are protected during this sale process.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill took over as BP\u2019s CEO on 1 April. Less than two months later, the company removed its chair<\/a>, Albert Manifold, citing serious concerns about \u201cimportant governance standards, oversight and conduct\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BP has put its North Sea oil and gas business up for sale as it looks to end…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":720617,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-720616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=720616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/720617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=720616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=720616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=720616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}