British energy giant BP said today that it plans to sell assets in Pakistan to help cover soaring costs from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster.
BP will seek to sell its oil and gas production assets and exploration licenses in Pakistan as part of a major divestment process, a spokesman said without giving any further details.
The group announced last month that it would look to offload €10 billion worth of assets this year to help meet the bill for the devastating Gulf of Mexico leak.
Today, the US government said it would allow the BP cap stemming the oil flow to remain in place for at least another day. This comes as plans for a 'static kill' to seal off the source of the ecological disaster were discussed.
US disaster response commander Admiral Thad Allen said engineers had found seepage and other anomalies, but said none were 'consequential' enough to stop the well integrity test, now in its fifth day.
Despite his optimism, Allen ordered BP to produce a 'detailed timeline' for restarting operations to contain the oil with a fleet of surface vessels if the cap has to be opened again.
The announcement on Thursday that BP had stopped the oil flow completely for the first time since April raised hope among communities along the Gulf Coast that a three-month nightmare may soon be over.
Measuring devices on BP's cap have given steadily increasing high-pressure readings, which would indicate there are no major leaks in the well bore that stretches for 2.5 miles (4km) below the seabed.
BP wants to keep the valves on the cap closed continuously until operations to permanently seal the well can begin in less than two weeks time, meaning no more toxic crude would stream into the Gulf.
Allen is more cautious and insists that keeping the cap on until the relief well operation is not a done deal as there are still too many uncertainties to know it has been shut in safely.
Both Allen and BP floated the idea of a new operation to plug the well called the 'static kill' - very much like the 'top kill' operation that failed almost two months ago. BP said the idea would be to send down heavy drilling mud as before through the giant blow-out preventer valve that sits on top on of the well and then inject cement to seal it.
