LONDON, June 26 (UPI) -- British energy company BP announced it was selling oil and natural gas assets in the United States and the North Sea worth at least $1.2 billion.
BP said it was selling its minority stake in the Alba and Britannia fields in the British waters of the North Sea to Mitsui and Co. for $280 million in cash.
The company said both fields had an average production rate of around 7,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. BP's production in the North Sea stands at roughly 200,000 boepd.
In the United States, BP said it was selling its upstream operations in Wyoming to LINN Energy for $1.02 billion in cash.
BP Chief Executive Officer Bob Dudley said the Wyoming sale would help BP reinvest in parts of North America.
"BP has invested $52 billion in the U.S. over the past five years, more than any other oil and gas company," he said in a statement.
BP secured the rights to explore for oil and natural gas in the Gulf of Mexico during a U.S. lease sale last week.
BP faces a multitude of fines and penalties from the 2010 oil spill in the gulf, one of the worst such accidents in the history of the oil industry.
