UK says it won't rescue BP; U.S. says it won't stop ExxonMobil or Chevron from buying the rogue company

LONDON - BP is negotiating to sell $12 billion worth of holdings, including some in Alaska, mainly to Apache, as it braces for a possible takeover attempt by Exxon Mobil Corp. or Chevron, according to media reports.
A deal with Apache, an independent oil and gas company known for its numerous acquisitions, would go a long way toward securing the money BP has pledged to put toward the cleanup costs. The two companies have struck deals together in the past, including BP’s sale of 18 Gulf of Mexico oil fields to Apache in 2006.
Some analysts have estimated that BP’s total liability may rise to $70 billion.
Among the assets that may be sold is BP’s 26 percent stake in the Prudhoe Bay field in Alaska’s North Slope, the largest oil field in North America.
BP’s chief executive, Tony Hayward, has been traveling around the world to bolster support from major stakeholders.
BP has already said that it will sell about $10 billion worth of assets as part of its financing strategy. It has already suspended its dividend to help conserve about $8 billion in cash, and plans to cut capital spending by several billion dollars. The company has been lining up financing from a group of banks as well, though it has also said it does not plan to issue new equity to potential new investors.
The company is also considering asset sales elsewhere in the world, including Vietnam and Algeria, according to another person briefed on the matter.
The U.S. Department of Justice has already asked BP for advance notice of major asset sales or cash transfers.
Oil-industry sources said the White House gave assurance that it wouldn't block either ExxonMobil or Chevron from trying to take over or merge with BP.
BP said it will use its second-quarter earnings call on July 27 to unveil a plan to amass $40 billion in funds.
Meanwhile, a British official has indicated that oil companies pursuing a deal with BP would not encounter opposition from the government.
"Takeovers and mergers are commercial matters for companies," said a spokesman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
Anadarko Petroleum has informed BP that it is holding back payments for costs related to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, said spokesman John Christiansen. But Anadarko, which owns a 25 percent stake in the ruptured well, is in discussions with BP to try to come to an agreement, he added.

Denali estimates Alaska gas pipeline will cost $35 billion

JUNEAU, Alaska - Details of the Denali project, a joint effort of ConocoPhillips and BP PLC, were released on April 6 in a filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The pipeline to move natural gas from Alaska's North Slope to North American markets will cost an estimated $35 billion, according to its planners.
Denali proposes a pipeline stretching more than 1,700 miles, with delivery points along the way to help meet gas needs in Alaska and Canada. It bills the project as "one of the largest private investments in the history of North America."
Denali is competing with a proposal being advanced by Calgary, Alberta-based TransCanada Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp., of Irving, Texas. That project, which has been promised up to $500 million from the state for eligible costs, has estimated its cost at $20 billion to $41 billion, depending on the route, with an option crossing Alaska and into Canada estimated at $32 billion to $41 billion.

TransCanada, Denali leaders says gas line is needed despite glut

JUNEAU, Alaska - Low natural gas prices don't pose a threat to the Alaska natural gas pipeline, a top official with TransCanada Corp. said on June 18.
"That's the nature of the gas business - the price goes up and the price goes down," said Tony Palmer, vice president for Alaska development with the Alberta-based company, in a meeting with the Juneau Empire's editorial staff.
TransCanada knew when it began the process that natural gas prices fluctuate, Palmer said.
Industry sources have speculated that Alaska gas is not needed, given new means of producing gas in deep shales in the Lower 48. A top executive at Enbridge Inc. recently expressed doubts publicly that there is enough demand for Alaska gas, given the pipeline's cost.
TransCanada is working together with Exxon Mobil Corp., one of the state's three big natural gas lease holders, on its pipeline, developed under the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act.
A competing pipeline, Denali, is being developed by BP PLC and ConocoPhillips Co., the other two big leaseholders.
Denali spokesman Dave MacDowell said despite today's low natural gas prices, his company also expects a pipeline to be viable.

Alaska chides BP for mistakes leading to pipe blast on North Slope

ANCHORAGE - The Alaskan state government's Petroleum Systems Integrity Office has criticized maintenance procedures at BP PLC's Prudhoe Bay oil field that led to a potentially life-threatening gas pipeline explosion last year.
"The portion of the pipeline that ruptured went 10 years between (corrosion) inspections," said a letter from PSIO coordinator Allison Iversen to BP Exploration Alaska Senior Vice President Tony Brock dated Feb. 20. It is vital that BP, "implement a process to track and close out missed corrosion inspections...in time to prevent a similar incident," Iversen said.
She gave BP until May 15 to take all necessary corrective action.
Iversen also said she was "deeply concerned with the timeliness and depth of the incident investigation related to this event." The pipe ruptured on Sept. 29, 2008, but BP's review summary was not submitted until Jan. 13.
The letter was posted on the PSIO Web site.

Alyeska blunder leads to massive escape of natural gas in pig run

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A massive release natural gas at Prudhoe Bay that
escaped into a trans-Alaska pipeline pump station could have destroyed the building and caused an extended shutdown of Alaska's North Slope oil fields, pipeline operators and investigators have determined in a preliminary inquiry.
The incident on Jan. 15 occurred as workers for BP PLC used pressurized natural gas to move a cleaning pig through a corroded 34-inch pipeline that was being prepared for decommission.
When the pig became stuck, a large volume of gas bypassed it and went to Pump Station 1.
The rush of natural gas overwhelmed systems before escaping out of storage tanks into the atmosphere.
An investigation by federal and state authorities is under way into the incident, a federal regulator said on Feb. 6.
Officials at Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., the company that operates the 800-mile pipeline, acknowledge that a fire or explosion could have endangered the station's 60-plus workers and caused a shutdown of oil fields.