Pat Dollard

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Press TV:

BP’s new chief executive has met with senior Russian officials to discuss selling part of the company’s vast assets in the country to raise funds for its Gulf of Mexico cleanup bill.

Robert Dudley met with the Russian deputy prime minister in charge of energy and chairman of the state oil company, Igor I. Sechin, an ally of the Russian prime minister, Vladimir V. Putin, The New York Times reported in an article Thursday..

The company plans to sell $30 billion in assets in 18 months to cover the costs its oil spill cleanup operations in the Gulf of Mexico, says the report.

BP pumps more crude oil in Russia than it does in the United States, including the Gulf of Mexico, according to the report, as the company’s relations with authorities in Moscow over the years have grown quite delicate at times.

Even though BP has said its largest property here, a joint venture, is not for sale, other deals are possible, oil analysts say.

BP’s current chief executive, Tony Hayward, who is losing the position following BP’s poor response to the spill disaster, accompanied Dudley in the Russian visit.

TNK-BP’s chief executive, Maxim Barsky, who succeeded Dudley in that job, has expressed interest in acquiring BP property.

By early evening Wednesday, according to the Times, neither Russian officials nor BP had disclosed the nature of Dudley’s discussions in Moscow.

Meanwhile, BP has already sold $8.9 billion worth of oil fields and an exploration business in the United States, Canada, Egypt and Colombia to cover cleanup costs.

Dudley, 54, who grew up in Mississippi, was placed in charge of BP’s response to the Gulf of Mexico disaster in order to repair the British company’s tarnished reputation in the US.

BP has about one-third of its global business interests and 40 percent of its shareholders and employees in the United States. However, BP states that it produces more crude in Russia than the United States – 840,000 barrels a day, compared with 665,000 in the United States, including the gulf.