BP clean-up fund nears $9bn on latest sale

OIL major BP has raised more cash to meet the huge cost of the Gulf of Mexico clear-up after agreeing the $1.9 billion (£1.2bn) sale of its Colombian oil and gas exploration business.

The deal will bring the funds raised by disposals to almost $9bn after it sold assets in North Anerica and Egypt to US firm Apache two weeks ago.

BP is targeting $30bn in sales after it last week revealed that the spill had cost it $32.2bn so far - sending the firm to its first quarterly loss in 18 years.

The buyer of BP's Colombian assets is a consortium between Ecopetrol, the country's oil company, and Canada's Talisman.

The sales represent the majority of BP's interests in the country, where it has had a presence for more than 20 years. Out- going chief executive Tony Hayward said: "It now makes sense for the assets to go to owners more willing than BP to invest in their future development."

The oil company is also looking to dispose of production assets in Vietnam and Pakistan to fund the Gulf clean-up. The latest estimates from the US government suggest 4.1 million barrels of oil has escaped into the Gulf since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and sank on 20 April, with the loss of 11 lives.

BP is about to launch efforts to plug the well in a "static kill" operation, which will involve pumping mud and cement into the well in an attempt to force the oil back into the reservoir after delays caused by a hydraulic leak on Monday.