Venezuela has granted BP permission to negotiate the sale of its assets in the South American OPEC member, Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said on Sunday, according to a Reuters report.
BP said last month that it would need authorisation from the Hugo Chavez administration to sell off its minority stakes in two E&P joint ventures with state oil company PDVSA in addition to its interest in the Petromonagas crude upgrader.
Funds raised from the sale of the assets which are valued at between US$850 million and $1 billion will go towards the British oil giant’s $40 billion Gulf of Mexico oil spill clean-up fund.
Ramirez said that “They [BP] consulted us, asked if we had a problem … and we said no. Of course, we have to see, and to review what they present us with.”
He said PDVSA would be interested in taking over 100% of BP’s local assets but expects BP to negotiate the offer.
Earlier in the month BP had raised its initial $30 billion oil spill clean-up fund to $40 billion following a review by the company of the total forecasted cost of the operation.
To date BP has spent around $8 billion battling the huge Gulf of Mexico spill that followed the Deepwater Horizon explosion off the Louisiana coast in April.
