BP has begun the process to sell minority stakes in its Kaskida and Tiber projects in the Gulf of Mexico. The move, one of CEO Meg O'Neill's first, aims to free up capital for the oil major as it refocuses on oil and gas investments.
The sale of stakes in these major Gulf of Mexico projects signals BP's strategic pivot towards core oil and gas production and its reliance on U.S. operations for growth, potentially impacting future capital allocation and production levels in a rising oil price environment.
British oil major BP has begun the process to sell minority stakes in two of its key Gulf of Mexico projects, Kaskida and Tiber, according to sources familiar with the matter. Each project is estimated to be worth billions of dollars.
This potential divestment represents one of the initial strategic moves under new CEO Meg O'Neill, who took the helm in April. BP has been considering the sale of these stakes for over a year. The company is one of the largest operators in the Gulf of Mexico, and selling minority stakes in developing projects is a common practice for oil and gas companies to free up invested capital.
BP recently revised its strategy to concentrate on oil and gas investments, stepping back from its previous expansion into renewables. The Kaskida and Tiber projects are considered BP's top prospects in the region, with each expected to achieve a production capacity of 80,000 barrels of oil per day. Kaskida is slated to begin production in 2029, followed by Tiber in 2030.
The company is increasingly relying on its U.S. operations for growth, aiming to increase its U.S. upstream output to approximately 1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2030. This target forms a significant portion of its global production goal of 2.3 to 2.5 million boepd for the same timeframe. The move comes as oil prices have risen more than 40% year-to-date, partly due to supply disruptions linked to the U.S.-Israeli conflict impacting Iran.