BP sells stakes in CPC, Tengiz to Russian Lukoil

BP sold its interest in Kazakhstan's Tengiz oil field and the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) to Russian Lukoil, as it completed the long-awaited exit from Kazakhstan.

Lukoil will pay $1.6 billion in three installments over the next two years to acquire BP's 46-percent share in the Lukarco joint venture, which owns a a 12.5-percent stake in CPC and a 5-percent holding in the Tengizchevroil project. Lukoil will also repay a $43-million loan, the British oil company extended to Lukarco.

With the transaction, BP will have no investments in Kazakhstan. In April, the company sold its 49.9 percent-stake in the Kazakhstan Pipeline Ventures joint venture, which holds a 1.75 percent stake in CPC, to KazMunaiGas, the Kazakh national oil company, for $250 million.

According to industry analysts, the move was widely expected since BP's interest in the pipeline was bigger than its interest in the Kazakh fields that feed it, making the project commercially unviable for the company. This has led to BP's opposition to a doubling of the CPC pipeline capacity and ultimately to its exit.

"We wish CPC every success in achieving the planned expansion of the pipeline, which is important to Kazakhstan and Russia," David Peattie, BP's head of Russia and Kazakhstan, said in a statement.

BP reportedly plans to focus on its investments in Russia and Azerbaijan. The company is one of the largest foreign investors in Russia and its TNK-BP joint venture is the country's third-largest oil producer, generating more than $25 billion of net income and distributing more than $20 billion in dividends since being set up in 2003. In Azerbaijan, BP and its partners have invested more than $20 billion to tap Caspian Sea oil fields in Azerbaijan and export more than 1 million barrels of crude a day via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline.

SRI