BP sells stake in motor oil arm Castrol in $6bn deal | EUROtoday

BP has struck a $6bn (£4.4bn) deal to promote a majority stake in its motor oil division Castrol to a US funding agency.

The oil big bought a 65% stake in Castrol, which makes lubricants for vehicles, bikes and industrial automobiles, to New York-based Stonepeak.

The deal valued Castrol at $10.1bn (£7.5bn), with BP receiving $6bn in money, which it’s going to use to pay down money owed and permit it to give attention to its core enterprise.

BP will maintain onto a 35% stake in Castrol, which it first took management of in 2000.

The London-based oil main stated the sale is a “milestone” in its plans to overtake its enterprise and strip out prices.

BP in February introduced plans to dump $20bn (£15bn) value of belongings in a bid to give attention to its core crude oil and fuel enterprise and strengthen its steadiness sheet.

It can also be shifting its technique away from funding in inexperienced power and renewing its give attention to oil and fuel following stress from some buyers who have been pissed off that its earnings and share worth had lagged behind rivals.

Rivals Shell and Norwegian firm Equinor have additionally scaled again plans to put money into inexperienced power and US President Donald Trump’s name to “drill baby drill” has inspired corporations to put money into fossil fuels.

The Castrol sale comes every week after BP unveiled its first feminine chief govt, Meg O’Neill, who will take the helm in April 2026.

Her shock appointment got here solely three months after BP appointed a brand new chairman, Albert Manifold.

And she was handed the highest job lower than two years after Murray Auchincloss took over from Bernard Looney as chief govt.

Wednesday’s deal is the newest in a sequence of gross sales by the agency, which included offloading its US onshore wind power enterprise and its Dutch mobility and comfort arm.

Interim chief govt Carol Howle stated the sale is a “very good outcome for all stakeholders”.

“We are reducing complexity, focusing the downstream on our leading integrated businesses, and accelerating delivery of our plan,” she added.