Hong

BP plc has agreed to sell its oil and natural gas assets in Pakistan to Hong Kong-based United Energy Group for $775 million in cash. The proceeds from the sale, expected to be completed in the first half of 2011, would be used to help cover the estimated $40 billion cleanup costs related to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The latest agreement “is further evidence of the rapid progress BP has made toward the divestment target we set out last summer,” which was to sell up to $30 billion of assets, said BP CEO Bob Dudley. “We are continuing to identify further assets that may be strategically more valuable to others than to BP as we complete the program.”

With dry gas prices continuing to disappoint, the oil and liquids-rich Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas is continuing to draw numerous investors and billions of dollars from near and far, including most recently China’s CNOOC Ltd. (China National Offshore Oil Corp.) in a deal valued at more than $2 billion.