BP Declines Comment On UK Press Report Of Possible Exxon Takeover Bid

LONDON (Dow Jones)--Oil major BP PLC Sunday declined to comment on a report in a U.K. newspaper that Exxon was mulling a takeover bid for the company. A spokesman for BP also declined to comment on a U.K. press report that BP was in talks with the U.S.'s Apache Corp. to sell up to $12 billion in assets including a big stake in Alaska's Prudhoe Bay oil field. "We have no comment to make on market rumors and speculation," a BP spokesman told Dow Jones Newswires. The U.K.'s Sunday Times said that Exxon had sought clearance from Washington DC to examine a takeover bid for BP. The newspaper cited oil industry sources as saying the Obama administration had told Exxon and one other U.S. oil company, thought to be Chevron, that it would not stand in the way of a deal that could value BP at up to GBP100 billion. The sources said there was no certainty that Exxon would make a move, but said talks with Washington indicated a renewed interest as BP came closer to plugging its oil well in the Gulf of Mexico. "There have been talks at a high level, and Exxon has expressed a serious interest. It is too early to talk about a bid yet, but they are clearing the way," a senior oil industry source told the Sunday Times. A spokesman for Exxon declined to comment, the newspaper said. -By Selina Williams, Dow Jones Newswires +44 207 842 9262; selina.williams@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 11, 2010 08:20 ET (12:20 GMT)