BP offloads US wind farms in continued retreat from green energy
The sale to LS Power should help the FTSE 100 oil and gas group towards its target of $20 billion of divestments by 2027. It is seeking to shore up its heavily indebted balance sheet, including through asset sales of $3 billion to $4 billion this year.
The sale of the US wind farms began in September last year, with BP saying at the time that the assets were 'not aligned' with its plans for growth in its solar venture Lightsource BP.
Murray Auchincloss, chief executive, then pledged in February to 'fundamentally reset' BP's strategy, has abandoned most of the green energy goals set under his predecessor Bernard Looney and refocused the company on focus on oil and gas.
BP declined to disclose the value of the wind farms deal but promised to give further details as part of its second-quarter results in early August.
Irene Himona, analyst at Bernstein, said: 'Using 2024 average global renewables transaction multiples as a reference point, we estimate the deal consideration could reach circa $2.2 billion or above.'
However, sources indicated the value was likely to be significantly lower than this, as the global averages did not reflect prices for ageing assets in the American market.
BP is also looking to sell its Castrol lubricants business and a stake in Lightsource BP. It has already announced a deal this month to offload its petrol stations in the Netherlands for an undisclosed sum, thought to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
BP has global operations including drilling for new oil and gas discoveries and retailing fuel and Marks & Spencer convenience food. It reported underlying profits of $8.9 billion last year.
Its US wind farm business comprises ten operational wind farms that were mostly built or acquired in the mid to late 2000s as part of BP's first push into green energy. Lord Browne of Madingley, when chief executive, established 'BP Alternative Energy' in 2005 as the oil giant promised to go 'Beyond Petroleum'.
BP wholly owns five of the wind farms, in Indiana, Kansas and South Dakota, and has 50 per cent stakes in five others in Colorado, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Idaho and Hawaii.
They have a total generating capacity of 1.7 gigawatts and BP's share is 1.3 gigawatts.
William Lin, BP's executive vice-president for gas and low-carbon energy, said: 'We have been clear that while low-carbon energy has a role to play in a simpler, more focused BP, we will continue to rationalise and optimise our portfolio to generate value. The onshore US wind business has great assets and fantastic people but we have concluded we are no longer the best owners to take it forward.'
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