* Premier will not go ahead with $210 mln deal
* BP hopes to sell $25 bln by 2025
(Adds details, background)
By Ron Bousso
LONDON, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Premier Oil abandoned its plans to
buy North Sea fields from BP for $210 million after Premier was
taken over by rival Chrysaor, marking a small dent in BP's $25
billion disposals target.
"Premier will not be proceeding with the proposed
refinancing or the acquisitions of assets from BP previously
announced," Premier and Chrysaor said in the announcement of the
deal.
Debt-laden Premier agreed to acquire BP's stakes in two
North Sea fields earlier this year for $625 million in an
attempt to boost its cash generation.
But the company struggled to raise the required financing
for the deal and agreed with BP to lower its price to $210
million only to seek to reduce it again last month.
BP said it will consider its options for the stakes in the
Andrew and Shearwater fields following Premier's takeover.
It marks a small setback for BP's hopes to sell $25 billion
in assets by 2025 in an effort to reduce debt as it begins a
shift towards low-carbon energy.
BP said it had already completed, or agreed, transactions
approaching half of this target, including a $5.6 billion sale
of its Alaska business and a $5 billion sale of its
petrochemical business.
(Reporting by Ron Bousso; editing by Jason Neely and Louise
Heavens)
