BP raises $1bn from North Sea field sale BP is to raise more than $1bn through the sale of North Sea oil and gas assets to Taqa, Abu Dhabi's national energy group, bringing the UK oil group closer to its $38bn asset disposal target set following the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The agreement extends Taqa's existing interests in the UK's North Sea and is the latest of a series of disposals in which state-controlled oil groups in the Middle East and Asia-Pacific have bought assets in the area from UK and other western operators. In July, Chinese state-controlled oil group Sinopec struck a $1.5bn deal with Talisman Energy to acquire a 49 per cent stake in the Canadian-listed company's assets in the UK sector of the North Sea. Other recent deals include an agreement between EnQuest and Kuwait's national oil company in May to commit $500m to fund the redevelopment of Britain's first producing, but now abandoned, North Sea oilfield. That deal involved the foreign investment arm of the Kuwait Petroleum Company acquiring a 35 per cent interest in the Alma and Galia oilfield developments at a cost of about £300m. Carl Sheldon, chief executive of Taqa, said on Wednesday that the $1.06bn deal would add 21,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day to its output and add 91m barrels to its reserve base, establishing the Abu Dhabi group "as a leading operator in the UK North Sea." Mr Sheldon said Taqa already commanded output of about 45,000 boe/d after enhancing output from fields acquired from Shell and ExxonMobil in 2008 for $631m. He added that Taqa was keen to build on its expertise of extending the production of mature assets in the UK and elsewhere by exploiting smaller accumulations of oil and gas around existing infrastructure and, by using modern extraction techniques, extending the life of existing fields. The sale to Taqa adds $1bn to asset disposals negotiated by Bob Dudley, BP chief executive, since the Gulf of Mexico disaster 18 months ago, and brings the UK major within $1bn of its $38bn divestment target. In spite of the sell down of smaller projects and minority assets, BP has insisted that it remains committed to developing larger fields in the UK and Norwegian sectors of the North Sea. These include the $4.5bn Clair Ridge project west of Shetland. BP, which as operator holds a 29 per cent stake alongside its partners ConocoPhillips, Chevron and Shell, has described Clair Ridge as one of the group's biggest investments in the UK North Sea, that should continue producing oil until at least 2050. North Sea assets recently sold include the sale in March of its southern North Sea gas assets for $400m to Perenco of France. Included in the latest deal is the sale to Taqa of an interest in the recently developed Devenick field in which BP holds an 89 per cent stake. Last month BP, along with minority partner RWE of Germany, announced the launch of full production at the Devenick that BP said would add 3 per cent to UK domestic gas output at an estimated development cost of £650m.