BHP Group is said to be considering exiting oil and gas for good, which includes a multibillion-dollar sale of its petroleum business, according to a Bloomberg News report on July 20.

Headquartered in Melbourne, BHP is an Anglo-Australian miner that has owned oil and gas assets since the 1960s. The company’s petroleum business, valued by RBC analysts to be worth $14.3 billion, includes conventional oil and gas operations centered in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Algeria. The company also has exploration, development and production activities in Mexico, deepwater Trinidad and Tobago, Western Gulf of Mexico, Eastern Canada and Barbados.

“With rising ESG pressures facing the industry, but also as this business potentially enters into a re-investment phase, we can see why management might be contemplating an exit,” the RBC analysts wrote in a note.

UPDATE:

Woodside Shares Fall on Speculation It Is Eyeing BHP’s Oil and Gas Assets

BHP began its retreat from oil and gas in 2018 with the sale of its U.S. shale assets in two separate agreements. The largest of the transactions was the $10.5 billion cash purchase by BP Plc of BHP’s positions in the Permian Basin, Eagle Ford Shale and Haynesville Shale.

The review of BHP’s petroleum business reported by Bloomberg on July 20 is part of the company’s scenario planning, according to two banking sources who declined to be named as the talks are private.

The report added that the deliberations were still at an early stage and no final decision has been made.

Reuters contributed to this article.

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