BP puts its North Sea oil business up for sale

BP formally launched a process on Friday 31 July 2026 to market its North Sea business. The UK-based supermajor said the aim is to simplify its portfolio and invest in high-return projects. The formal launch of a potential sale follows months of speculation that BP would divest part or all of its operations in the UK North Sea.

BP said in a statement that the decision forms part of its ongoing portfolio review and reflects its disciplined approach to capital allocation. Chief executive Meg O'Neill said: "The North Sea remains integral to the UK's energy system. However, as we focus our portfolio and direct capital to our highest-value opportunities, we believe our North Sea business will be better positioned as part of another company." She added that the business has world-class people, resilient assets and a proud heritage, and that these are precisely the qualities that can attract an owner ready to back its next chapter.

O'Neill, the first female chief executive of a Big Oil company, wrote earlier this month in a post marking her first 100 days that BP had begun simplifying its portfolio and cutting costs and would make "fewer, better choices" about where to invest. BP had remained the last supermajor to have neither sold nor combined its UK North Sea business in recent years. Shell and Equinor combined their oil and gas assets in a standalone company, Adura, while TotalEnergies merged its assets with NEO NEXT to create NEO NEXT+, in which the French supermajor holds a 47.5% interest.