BP (LON:BP) has sold a 5% stake in Norwegian oil and gas producer Aker BP for NOK 9.83bn ($1.06bn) before costs.
As a result, the oil supermajor now expects around $9bn from divestments and other proceeds in 2026, which lands about $1bn more than it previously forecast.
The Aker BP shares were sold at NOK 311 each, and the sale reduces BP’s holding from 15.9% to 10.9%.
BP's remaining 68.7m shares are subject to a 90-day lock-up.
Chief executive Meg O’Neill told investors that strengthening the balance sheet was BP’s top priority.
The multinational oiler aims to complete $20bn of asset sales by 2027.
Its asset sales have included the Gelsenkirchen refinery, its Austrian retail business, and the firm has also begun a process seeking a buyer for the last of its UK North Sea upstream businesses and assets.
With crude markets on the backfoot, in the wake of the US midterm elections, BP shares were down nearly 1% on Thursday morning, at 566.5p.
