It has been a busy time of late for BP Plc (LON:BP) in the M&A sector, fresh from gaining final approval for their acquisition of Devon’s Brazilian assets last week the company secured another asset sale this week, while finally reaching the end of the road for the protracted negotiations for their Russian venture with Rosneft. The asset sale involved the divestment of BP’s interests in the UK onshore Wytch Farm field in Dorset along with some minor fields in the North Sea to Perenco for an initial payment of $555 million.

Comprising of 480 million boe of recoverable reserves the Wytch Farm field is the largest onshore field in Western Europe and the sixth largest field outright in the UK. The purchase equates to just $1.71 per recoverable barrel indicating the maturity of the asset and the increasingly restrictive taxes imposed on North Sea assets following the latest tax hike for oil companies in the UK April budget.

Meanwhile the company’s deal with Rosneft, involving a mutual share swap and joint exploration of assets in the Russian Artic moved beyond the agreed deadline without resolution with the blocking party TNK-BP. The press release from BP suggests a continued dialogue and opportunities with Rosneft, but are in contrast to comments circulating from Russian politicians this week, who have grown frustrated at the failure to close the deal and will instead look for other partners.

Another deal facing delays is Vedanta’s proposed acquisition of a 51% stake in Cairn India for $8.5 billion. The deal has now received its third deadline extension after the second extension was passed this week without approval from the Indian government. Since the deal was first announced Vedanta has been building an interest in Cairn India from other sources at a distinct discount to the one agreed with Cairn Energy. However Vedanta are reliant on the deal with Cairn Energy passing to receive an all important controlling stake. In the Marcellus shale Enerplus sold a portion of its interests to an undisclosed buyer for $575 million representing a value of just under $6,000 per undeveloped acre.

Enerplus stated the motivation for the divestiture as gaining increased financial flexibility to pursue investment strategies without specifying where the funds are likely to be targeted. Canadian Overseas Petroleum made a large bet on Liberia’s upstream prospects with the $82 million acquisition of offshore block LB13 this week.

The…

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